Nalina
NALINA
T he overhead lights flickered again - third time in the past hour - as I mixed drinks and watched my regulars. Something was off tonight. The usual rowdy maintenance crews from Blue Section shuffled in with sallow complexions, their usual energy drained.
“Environmental control’s gone downhill lately.” Kell clicked her way down the bar, each step of her exoskeleton plates marking her progress. “My joints are killing me with these temperature swings.”
“You’d think they’d fix it.” I slid an ale across the bar. “Especially after that coolant line burst last week.”
“Ha!” Her compound eyes reflected the dim light. “When have they ever fixed anything around here that wasn’t actively on fire? Speaking of things needing fixing...” Kell’s antennae twitched. “Have you noticed how awful the crews look lately? Especially the ones from Blue?”
My stomach twisted as I remembered Jevik’s symptoms before he disappeared - that same gray pallor, the unnatural movements. But I kept my expression neutral as I wiped down the bar. “Maybe some kind of bug going around?”
“Bug, my thorax.” She clicked her mandibles. “Something’s not right. Luron came in yesterday, didn’t even finish his usual double.”
I was saved from responding by a crash from the far corner. A Merrith had knocked over his drink, all twelve fingers shaking as he tried to mop up the spill. The expensive liquor sizzled where it hit the floor, leaving iridescent marks on the metal.
His drinking companion - another maintenance worker - stared blankly ahead, purple marks visible at his collar.
“Here.” I grabbed fresh towels, but froze at the Merrith’s movements as he reached for them. Like watching a puppet with tangled strings.
The rest of my shift passed in a blur of drinks and forced smiles.
“I’ve got this.” Kell’s mandibles clicked softly as she took a drink order from a new arrival. “Go get some rest.”
“You sure?”
“After that double shift last week when my broodmate was sick? I owe you.” Her compound eyes studied me. “Just... be careful getting home. Something’s not right out there.”
I gathered my things, Vami’s empty seat at the end of the bar haunting me as I walked to the door.
The corridors felt too quiet as I walked home, my footsteps echoing off metal walls. A flicker of movement made me pause - a familiar hulking shape in the shadows.
“Grot?” I called softly. If I could get him talking, maybe find out what happened…
He stepped into the dim light, and my breath caught. His usually ruddy skin had gone gray, tentacles twitching in an unnatural rhythm. Something metallic glinted at his neck, surrounded by patches of purple bioluminescence.
“Where is Jevik?” His voice was flat, wrong. Not Grot’s voice at all.
“I don’t-”
“You helped him escape. The security feeds showed your interference.” His tentacles writhed unnaturally. “The subject was ready for processing. Tell us where he went.”
“Processing? Is that what you call what they did to you?”
He moved faster than should have been possible, all four arms reaching for me. I ducked and rolled, thanking years of dodging drunken customers. My elbow caught his solar plexus - or where it should have been. Instead of soft flesh, I hit something hard and unyielding.
His skin rippled, taking on an almost metallic sheen as he recovered. The wound from my strike sealed instantly.
I ran.
That apprenticeship with Odra had taught me every maintenance shaft and access tunnel, and never had I been more grateful. I dove through a narrow vent, hearing Grot’s bulk slam into the wall behind me. His unnatural strength tore through the metal like paper.
Left at the junction, right through the fan housing, down the emergency ladder. Each turn bought me seconds as he crashed after me. But his strength was wearing down my lead.
I vaulted over a coolant line, ducking as his massive arm swung where my head had been. The blow dented the pipe, sending freezing spray into the air. I used the slick floor to slide between two conduits, forcing him to choose which one to follow. He chose wrong - I popped up behind him, using a hanging cable to swing around and land a kick to his back.
He crashed into a junction box, sparks showering around us. The electrical discharge seemed to make the device at his neck spark in response.
“Your assistance to the fugitive has been noted.” That horrible empty voice again. “Submit for processing.”
“Sorry, not interested in whatever they did to you.” I grabbed a loose panel, swinging it at his face.
He barely flinched. One hand caught my wrist, crushing. Another wrapped around my throat.
The world started to dim at the edges. I clawed at his grip, but it was like fighting a wall.
A gray blur slammed into Grot from behind. The pressure on my throat vanished as I dropped to my knees, gasping.
”How did you find me?” I managed between breaths.
Tyrix pulled me to my feet, his nose brushing my neck. “I’d find you anywhere. Anytime. Never worry.” His voice was rough, possessive. But there was no time for that now - Grot was already recovering.
I’d moved like I would behind the bar - quick, efficient, always where the threat wasn’t. Duck under a swing, slide past his guard, use his momentum against him. Bar fights had taught me to end things quick and dirty.
Tyrix was something else entirely. Each movement precise, calculated, deadly. Where I dodged, he redirected. Where I looked for quick strikes, he set up killing blows. The perfect predator against Grot’s uncanny precision.
“Are you alright?” Tyrix’s low growl sent heat through my chest despite the situation.
“Been better.” I scrambled up as Grot turned to face us again.
Tyrix flowed around Grot’s strikes like water, each movement calculated and deadly. But even his Vinduthi strength barely slowed our friend down.
“Getting some workout tips I should know about?” I called, drawing Grot’s attention so Tyrix could land a hit to his knee joint.
“Clearly I need to up my training regimen.” Tyrix’s fist connected with Grot’s jaw. “Though the instant healing seems excessive.”
I dove between Grot’s legs as he stumbled, coming up behind him. “Show off.”
Our eyes met over Grot’s shoulder. Without a word, I dropped low as Tyrix went high, our movements perfectly synchronized. My sweep took out Grot’s legs while Tyrix’s strike caught him in the throat - right where that metal device glinted.
Grot convulsed, the purple marks pulsing faster as he fought the device’s control. His tentacles writhed, half reaching for us, half trying to tear the metal from his neck.
“The children,” he gasped, his real voice breaking through. Sweat beaded on his skin as he fought for each word. “In the labs below... Dr. Gondon tried to stop them, but-” His eyes cleared for a brief moment, showing the terror and pain beneath the Consortium’s control.
Then the device sparked, purple light surging through his veins like lightning, and his spine went rigid as what-ever-the-hell it was took him over again.
“Grot, fight it!” But he was already moving again, faster and stronger than before.
The next few moments were chaos - strikes, dodges, the clang of metal on metal. We had no chance of taking him alive, not with whatever was controlling him. But before we could land a final blow, he suddenly twisted free.
For a moment, his movements became his own again - uncoordinated, desperate, real. Then the purple light surged, and the weapon they’d made him into reasserted control.
Something clattered to the ground - a child’s ID bracelet that had fallen from his jacket pocket. The data crystal embedded in it still glowed faintly.
I stared after where Grot had disappeared, my hands shaking. Tyrix pulled me against his chest, fingers gentle as they checked for injuries.
“I’m fine, I-”
The words died as his mouth crashed into mine. Heat exploded through my body as he pressed me against the wall, his kiss desperate and hungry. His claws scraped carefully against the metal by my head, caging but not trapping.
My fingers dug into his shoulders as I pulled him closer, feeling the strength in him carefully restrained. When he finally broke away, we were both breathing hard, the station’s constant hum barely audible over my pounding heart.
“I thought... when I saw him choking you...”
“I know. I’m okay.” I touched his face, tracing one of his markings. “We need to check this.” I bent to retrieve the id bracelet, trying to ignore how my body still hummed from Tyrix’s kiss.
“Can Dasari hack it?” he asked.
“Her shop won’t be open for six cycles,” I sighed. “She keeps strict hours - says it maintains her mystique. Really, I think she just likes making everyone work around her schedule.”
His hands settled on my hips. “Any ideas how to pass the time?”
“A few.” I grinned up at him. “Though I might need checking for injuries.”
“I’ll be very thorough,” he promised, pulling me close again.