Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Roshini sat, with her legs crossed, near the peak of one of the many mountains situated around the caves she used as her temporary home and storage chambers.
Cancri B’s single sun had broken the horizon. Its rays painted the sky red and orange and yellow and lit the orange sand covering the planet’s surface.
The image caught her breath. Fates. Her adopted planet was stunning.
The manufactured mountain to the right of her couldn’t dim its beauty. If a being glanced briefly at that rock-encased structure, they wouldn’t realize it wasn’t naturally part of the landscape. They wouldn’t know it hadn’t existed five solar cycles ago.
There was no indication the Invaders’ base was concealed within it. Or that, inside that fake mountain, those beings were building the most horrific weapon she’d ever heard about, using the most dangerous substances found on the planet to construct it.
The enemy knew the risks of handling the not-yet-shielded monster-maker ore, as the locals called the material. They were aware it caused tumors and pain and reduced remaining lifespans to mere planet rotations.
That was why they forced the Cancris to extract and manipulate the energy-exuding ore. They hid behind their shielded walls until the parts were covered with being-protective layers of a neutralizing coating. And they retreated to those safe spaces when they tested their weapon.
Leaving everyone else to become sick and die.
The Invaders had to be stopped. Roshini and her team would be the ones to do that.
But that wouldn’t happen now. There were other tasks to complete first.
She placed her hands on the sun-warmed stone, preparing to stand.
A lizard skittered past her.
She waited for a moment so as not to scare it. And then she jumped to her booted feet and followed the little creature down the side of the mountain.
The lizard would be headed toward one of the caves. There would be cooler temperatures and a water source there.
In the cave she’d claimed as her temporary home, there would also be vegetation, nourishment bars, and a makeshift sleeping support.
In the nearest caves to that one, the lizard would find weapons, machine parts, and other supplies gathered for the completion of the Plan.
The Cancris would be horrified if they knew where she was sheltering.
They were frightened of the caves. Their ancestors had somehow realized, long before sensors were developed, that those space were dangerous. The Cancris told stories of beings walking into the caves looking like humanoids and exiting as fearsome monsters.
Roshini monitored her caves, and she took her chances. She was already dying. The odds in the short term she had left of being captured by the Invaders while living in a domicile on a flat section of land was greater than that of a crack opening in her cave and flooding her with harmful energy.
She entered her home cave and checked the monitoring device attached to a stone wall. The levels of exposure were normal—the new normal, post-invasion.
It was still too cursedly high, but outside the cave wasn’t any better.
There had also been no large movements detected since she left the space. Her cave hadn’t been found by the enemy.
She was safe. Her shoulders lowered, and she continued with her sunrise routine.
It varied very little from planet rotation to planet rotation.
She checked on her plants.
They were illuminated by solar-powered lights she had installed herself. The water was provided by another system she’d built.
The lizard she’d spotted earlier munched on a leaf.
“You chose the best cave.” She smiled at the creature. “I have plenty of vegetation to share with you.”
She clipped bunches of fragrant herbs and placed them in a container. Delivering them was her excuse to meet with Luam every planet rotation.
Vegetation wilted quickly in the heat. No one would question the need for it to be refreshed often.
She dipped a beverage container into the underground stream, drank from it, then refilled and closed it. Her garments had been laid out at sunset. Her entire ensemble – flight suit, boots, hair, fingernails, skin pigment – was in different shades of brown. She was striving to look as unremarkable as possible.
Roshini tidied herself with a cleaning cloth and donned her disguise. The flight suit had been constructed with built-in breast binders. Her chest would appear flat.
That aspect of her was one many of the Invader males would remember.
If they remembered her at all. Her lips twitched.
She slid a dagger into her left boot and a handheld into one of her pockets. Carrying a gun was too dangerous. If she was stopped by the Invaders, they would question her need for a weapon.
The Cancris were peaceful beings. They didn’t normally arm themselves.
Which made it easy for the invaders to simply commandeer their land and their freedom, forcing the local males to labor for them for free.
The Invaders didn’t respect females. That benefited Roshini. They didn’t believe she had the strength to harm them.
Her chin lifted. They’d soon discover that assumption was very wrong.
She grabbed the beverage container and the container of herbs and left her temporary home. The heat differential between the cave and the open air blasted her. She tugged the cover off her mounted transport and placed the containers in the compartment under its seat.
The side panels on her machine were as changeable as her appearance. She swapped the shiny blue ones for a rusted worn set. Then she climbed on board.
A smile curled her lips. The machine was crafted for her. She’d stolen the mounted transport from the Invaders, stripped it to the frame and rebuilt it from parts also pilfered from the enemy. The leather seat molded to her cloth-covered ass. The grips were an extension of her fingers.
Excitement flowed through her as she increased the speed. Sheer power vibrated between her legs. It was hotter than any fuck.
Warm air streamed over her form. Sunlight turned the sand bright orange. She weaved the mounted transport through the valleys between the mountains.
It was just her and her machine and the untamed land before her.
Fates. There was nothing like it in the universe. She was certain of that.
Roshini arrived at Luam’s domicile too soon for her liking. The older Cancri male was outside the structure, banging the bovine shit out of a twisted piece of metal.
“I think it’s quite dead.” She cut her engines and dismounted.
“Then it looks how I feel.” The male tossed his straightening tool to the side and grinned at her.
The scar on his temple was old. It had been given to him by the Invaders during a nearby settlement’s Betrayal.
The tumor in the center of his fabric-clad chest was obtained not long after that. It had grown now to be the size of his skull. The one on his right hand was smaller yet looked horrifically painful.
Her friend was well past Cyra’s treatments. The only pills he took now were to numb his agony.
He retrieved a beverage container, opened it, and took a big swig out of it. “Want some?” He held it out to her.
Refusing a drink in the Cancri culture was considered rude. And foolish. Dehydration killed beings on the dry planet.
“Always.” Roshini accepted the container from him and took a smaller gulp.
The beverage warmed her throat on the way down.
She quashed a gasp.
The male was consuming partially diluted fermented beverage to supplement the pain suppressors. That was how much hurt he was enduring.
“Thanks.” She smothered her concern under brusqueness and gave the beverage container back to her friend. “I have your herbs.” She retrieved them from her mounted transport.
“That’s much appreciated.” His eyes twinkled. “I don’t know what I’d do without these deliveries. Herbs are finicky little plants. I don’t have the patience you have with them.”
The chatter was crafted to appease any Invaders who might be listening to them.
“It takes a female’s touch.” Roshini played to the enemy’s biased view of females. “Do you need any additional herbs in the next delivery?”
“Something that’ll help with the aftereffects of drinking too much fermented beverage would be great.” Luam took the opening she gave him. She’d used it in the past. “I’m going to Bubs’s Place once the sun sets.”
Bubs’s Place was where they often met the buyers of their stolen ships. And where they sometimes met with team members.
The beverage outlet’s owners, Bubs and Bujji, hated the Invaders as much as she did.
“Bubs and me will get to talking about the good ol’ planet rotations.” Luam paused. “Did I ever tell you about the time he and I wrangled with a big green male? He wanted the same type of beverage again and again and we didn’t have it on offer.”
“You might have told me.” Roshini sounded as bored as she possibly could.
The big green dude was code for the Powluk male that had purchased the stolen Humanoid Alliance Class A Warship from them. He must want another one.
That would be difficult to obtain. She was trying to disappear from the Invaders’ monitoring systems for a while.
“You can’t always get the same type of beverage.” She pushed back on the request. “This is Cancri B. Our supplies are limited.”
“That’s what I told him.” Luam nodded. He understood he was to refuse the order. “I told him Bubs could get him another type.”
“He wasn’t interested in another type?” She couldn’t supply the Powluk with any type of ship. Her focus was staying quiet before she engaged in her final act of rebellion.
“He wasn’t interested in another type.” Luam wouldn’t offer any alternatives. “We had to physically throw him out of the place. And he never came back.”
They would end their relationship with the Powluk.
“If he was a big dude, you were lucky there were two of you to handle him.” Roshini met the male’s gaze. “Are you meeting with the others? How many of the old males are there left now—forty-one?”
“Forty-one?” Luam snorted. “I wish. There ain’t that many of us left. The tumors, ya know.”
“I know.” She also knew he would meet with the rest of his team and inform them they would be needed for one final task forty-one planet rotations from now. “We’re never sure when our last moment will be.”
“Fates willing.” Luam glanced up at the clear sky. “I’ll be here for as long as the universe has need for me.”
Her friend would try to stay alive long enough to ensure the Invaders were driven from their planet.
“Fates willing.” She would try to stay alive also. “I gotta be going, my friend.” Sadness gripped her and she gently squeezed her friend’s shoulder. “Don’t drink too much this sunset.”
“I can’t promise that.” Luam’s laugh was shaky. “You better get back to your herbs. The planet and I need you.”
The planet needed both of them. But she wasn’t returning to her plants.
Not for a shift or two.
It was a beautiful planet rotation for flying.
She climbed onto her mounted transport, revved her engines, and raced toward the horizon, leaving her sorrow and her worries far behind her.
* * *
Roshini had parked her machine by her caves before the sun was three-quarters of the way across the sky.
She should stay away from Bubs’s Place. Luam could handle the Powluk. And if he couldn’t handle the male alone, Bubs and Bujji and the regulars at the beverage outlet would help him.
There was no need for her presence. The Invaders would continue to look for the being who sabotaged their testing. It was a slim chance, but they might figure out she was responsible for it. If they found her at Bubs’s Place, that would place everyone in danger.
But something about Luam’s upcoming meeting with the Powluk didn’t sit right with her.
According to the chatter over the communication lines, the Powluks had recently formed a military alliance with the beings on a nearby planet. Those beings already had a sophisticated fleet of ships, and they had plenty of credits to purchase more vessels.
There was no reason for the Powluks to source a used ship from Cancri B, a planet farther away.
Her gut said her friend was walking into a trap.
She swapped the panels on her mounted transport once more. The new set was black. The simple swirling decorations she’d engraved into the metal dulled the shine, ensuring it wouldn’t reflect any light.
The set was a favorite of hers. She slid her hands over the surface of one of the panels. The images represented the movement of sand over rock on a windy planet rotation.
Her mounted transport had been transformed. She had to do the same with her own appearance.
Upon entering the cave, she checked the device. There had been no significant movements detected since she left the space. And the energy readings were within the new normal range.
She popped the pills Cyra had given her. Those were downed with a container of liquified nourishment bars. She grimaced. That stuff was disgusting.
Her stomach rumbled a protest. But the nourishment stayed put.
She looked over her collection of disguises. Her male miner ensemble hid the most weapons. Every tool converted into either a gun or a blade. She’d designed them herself.
All the miners on Cancri B were local. That role was dangerous, and the Invaders would only risk other beings’ lifespans.
Her lips flattened.
She stripped naked and applied orange pigment to her skin. Every stretch of her was covered. The Invaders often tortured beings by insisting they remove their clothing.
That especially happened with the female beings.
Her hair set consisted of black straight strands. That color combination was also standard for Cancris. Her simulated locks were jaggedly cut. Her applied fingernails were short and appeared as unkempt. She gathered a handful of orange sand and rubbed it all over her. The perception she wanted to achieve was she had gone to the beverage outlet directly from the mining tunnels.
She then donned the thick leather clothing. The top and bottoms hung on her and made her appear shapeless. And they were covered with dust and grime. The boots were two sizes too large. The right boot had a gash in the toe, exposing the metal protecting her feet. She hung a pair of smeared-with-orange-grease goggles around her neck.
A container filled with slow-release pain suppressors in pill form was slipped into one of her pockets. She never knew when she’d need those.
And she stuffed the holsters around her waist with the guns she’d crafted to resemble tools. She could kill and had killed with each one of them.
It was unfortunate and not-at-all the Cancris way, but sometimes beings had to be silenced…permanently. She ended their lifespans to ensure others, including herself, lived.
She would do the same, if that was necessary, this planet rotation.
* * *
Bubs’s Place was a quick trip from her caves. The beverage outlet, run by Bubs, a Cancri, and Bujji, his female Cancri mate, was situated a solid distance from any of the settlements. It catered to beings who normally spent their planet rotations in isolation, far away from any neighbors.
Roshini recognized the four land transports parked outside the structure.
The ship with the built-in cooling unit belonged to Bubs and his mate. It was used to haul ingredients for the nourishment Bujji produced for patrons.
The most dilapidated land transport belonged to Olds, a male who was exactly that—old. He had lived in the area as long as anyone could remember, and he was always at Bubs’s Place whenever Roshini visited.
The two remaining ships belonged to Hut and Gnuck. The two males were in a long-running relationship but lived in opposite directions from the beverage outlet. Hut once told Roshini that was for the best. They had tried living together and had fought constantly. The time apart was needed.
All of the beings were part of her team. Though they weren’t aware they had that in common.
And they would recognize her, despite her disguise.
But none of them would comment on it. They had their own secrets and their own ways of dealing with the Invaders.
She parked her mounted transport next to the other vessels.
Luam and the Powluk would park their land transports in that area also when they arrived.
Her friend would recognize her mounted transport. Its disguise wouldn’t fool him. He would know he had backup, a friendly being guarding his ass.
She swallowed a smile as she trudged toward the beverage outlet.
The doors opened.
Acting on instinct, she ducked behind a huge empty container.
She was glad she did that. Because she didn’t recognize the cloaked being who had emerged from the beverage outlet. The being was too small and too slight to be Bubs, Bujji, Olds, Hut, or Gnuck. And the being walked like no one she’d ever seen. They seemed to float above the sand. A hood covered their head.
Roshini curled her fingers over the tool in her right hip holster.
The being paused near her hiding place. The overhead lighting shone on her face. Her eyes were the palest shade of blue. Her expression was serene.
“Trust the male with grey eyes.” The female’s voice was felt, not heard.
Roshini looked around, seeking to find the being the female addressed.
She didn’t see anyone else.
And when she returned her gaze to the female, that being was also gone.
That…wasn’t possible. Roshini searched her surroundings. Nothing moved except the sand. There were no signs of any other being.
The female had simply…disappeared.
Roshini waited. Nothing changed.
She cautiously emerged from behind the container and walked slowly toward the beverage outlet.
The female must know either Bubs or Bujji. No one went to their place randomly.
Roshini would discreetly ask them about her.
All heads turned as she entered the small structure.
Bubs and Bujji stood behind their bar. Bubs was wiping down beverage containers, and Bujji was chopping vegetation.
They nodded at her.
Hut and Gnuck glanced at her briefly and then their gazes returned to each other. Their fingers were linked over the top their horizontal support.
Olds burped and then waved one of his hands in front of his face.
None of them seemed concerned over the visit from the floating female.
Roshini claimed a horizontal support in a dark corner. The seat faced the door. And her back was against the wall.
She could see everyone who entered. And no one could sneak behind her.
Bujji nudged Bubs with one of her elbows.
The male filled one of his newly wiped containers with their own brewed fermented beverage, carried it over to her, and plopped it onto the horizontal support. “The usual?”
“The usual.” Roshini lowered her voice to a rasp. “Saw a new face. Palest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.”
“No one ‘round here has eyes like that.” Bubs’s forehead furrowed with thought lines.
Roshini met his gaze. “You sure?” The female had come out of the beverage outlet.
Though, she thought about it more, she didn’t actually see her step over the threshold.
“Yeah, sure.” Bubs frowned. “Would remember eyes like that.”
The floating female had travelled all the way to Bubs’s Place and hadn’t entered the beverage outlet? That made no cursed sense.
Roshini’s unease about the situation intensified. “Yeah.”
“It’d cause a stir.” Bubs shifted his weight from one big booted foot to the other. “Not much happening for excitement here.”
Roshini knew what he was asking. “’Spect that’ll change.”
“’Spect so.” Bubs nodded.
He would prepare for trouble.
That was prudent. Because Roshini’s gut screamed trouble was coming.