20. Davrik
CHAPTER 20
DAVRIK
T he sample bag swings at my hip as I approach the station, a sense of accomplishment warming my chest. Alice will be pleased with how many I found. The red flowers peek through the clear containment material, their delicate petals still pristine despite the journey.
My steps falter. The station's main door hangs open, swaying in the breeze. Scattered equipment litters the ground outside - definitely not how Alice keeps things. The sample bag drops from my fingers as I break into a run.
"Alice?" My voice echoes through the darkened corridor. No response. "Alice!"
The emergency lights cast an eerie red glow through the station. Glass crunches under my boots as I move deeper inside. The lab's in shambles - equipment thrown about, papers scattered.
A faint blue glow catches my eye beneath an overturned table.
"Davrik? Is that you making all that racket?" Navi's familiar voice calls out.
I drop to my knees, shoving aside broken glass to retrieve her module. "What happened here? Where's Alice?"
"Oh, now you care what I think? Not going to dismiss my readings as a malfunction this time?"
I grip the module tighter. "Navi, please."
"Fine. I didn't see much from where Alice dropped me. She was running, trying to hide I think. But I counted at least three sets of boots stomping around. Heavy ones, military grade from the sound pattern."
My jaw clenches. "And Alice?"
"They took her. Dragged her out actually - she put up quite a fight. Knocked over that shelf there trying to get away." Navi pauses. "I tried calling out to distract them, but they ignored me. Left me here like common trash."
"Which direction?"
"Northwest, toward the ridge. And Davrik? They weren't speaking any language in my database. But their gear looked familiar - similar to the pirates who shot us down."
Ice spreads through my veins. The same pirates who somehow knew exactly where to find my ship. Who most likely knew exactly what cargo I was carrying.
"They planned this," I whisper. "They couldn't find the cargo where I stashed it with Alice's. The only thing they could do was take Alice."
"What? Why would pirates want a botanist?"
I stare at the scattered papers, covered in Alice's neat handwriting detailing her breakthrough discovery. "Because she means more to me than the delivery."
Navi beeps in distress. "Davrik, compromising the delivery means compromising your own life."
"I know," I say, getting some gear together. "And my life means nothing now without her in it."
Broken branches and crushed vegetation mark their path through the dense foliage. I push forward, scanning the ground for signs of their passage while trying to keep my mounting panic at bay. The tracks grow fainter with each step.
"They're good," I mutter, crouching to examine a partial boot print in the soft earth. "Too good."
"Well, they are professionals," Navi chimes from the pocket where I stashed her module. "Just like someone else I know who's very skilled at covering his tracks."
My fingers brush over a broken vine. "Not helping, Navi."
"I'm just saying, if anyone can find them, it's you. Though my sensors are picking up some strange electromagnetic interference ahead. Could be their ship's cloaking system."
The dying sunlight filters through the canopy, casting long shadows across the forest floor. Time's slipping away too fast. Alice is out here somewhere because of me - because I brought danger to her doorstep and then left her alone.
"Your heart rate's elevated," Navi observes. "More than usual for physical exertion."
"She trusted me." The words come out raw. "She opened her home to me, shared her work, her bed..." I swallow hard. "And I repaid her by making her a target."
"Self-flagellation won't help find her."
"No." I straighten up, studying the deepening shadows. "But it might keep me focused on not screwing up again."
I notice a patch of crushed luminescent moss - the same kind Alice showed me last week. The broken strands still pulse with a faint blue glow, marking where someone carelessly stepped through.
"They went this way." I touch the damaged plant gently. "Alice taught me these take decades to grow back."
"Fascinating botany lesson. Can we focus on the tracking?"
I scan the ground ahead. "I am focusing. See those bent stalks? The red ones Alice says always grow straight up unless disturbed? They're leading northwest."
Moving carefully to avoid creating my own trail, I follow the signs. A broken vine here, scraped bark there. All the little details Alice pointed out during our walks, teaching me to read the forest like one of her research papers.
"There's something different about the canopy ahead," Navi observes.
I pause, studying the treetops. The leaves hang differently, some branches bent at unnatural angles. "They needed clearance for something big. A ship."
"The electromagnetic interference is stronger here too."
"Alice showed me how these trees grow toward the sunlight." I trace the odd pattern with my finger. "These weren't shaped by nature. They were forced aside to make room."
A flutter of movement draws my attention. One of the local flying creatures - Alice would know its proper name - circles overhead, refusing to cross a certain point in the sky.
"The wildlife's avoiding that area," I say. "Just like they avoid the station's shield barrier."
"A cloaking field would create similar disturbances in their natural patterns."
I press forward, every skill I've learned from Alice guiding my steps. She might have thought she was just sharing her passion for this world, but she was teaching me how to find her all along.
"The trail ends here," I whisper, reaching out to touch empty air. My fingers meet resistance - the invisible hull of a cloaked ship.
Heavy footsteps crunch through the underbrush. I duck behind a massive trunk, pressing my back against rough bark.
"Can't believe this. Can't believe this!" A deep voice growls.
"Would you shut up? Your whining isn't helping."
Their comms crackle with static and panicked voices. I strain to make out the words, but the interference from the cloaking field garbles most of it.
"Boss is going to skin us alive for this mess." The first voice again, closer now.
"How was I supposed to know she'd be such a pain? She's just some human scientist!"
I bite back a smile. That's my girl.
"Did you see what she did to Kraz? That shit she threw in his face? His scales are still burning!"
"Boss said grab her quick and clean. Instead we've got half the crew chasing her through the ship like idiots. This payload better be worth it."
"According to Kraz, it's worth all this and more. We can retire on that shit, you understand? No more fuck ups now."
Their boots crunch past my hiding spot. Two burly pirates, scales gleaming dully in what little light filters through the canopy. Their weapons hang loose at their sides - sloppy.
"Can't believe a tiny human female is giving us this much trouble," the taller one grumbles, adjusting his comm unit.
The device squeals with feedback. "She's loose! The human escaped into the mess hall!"
"What?" Both pirates spin toward their ship. "How did she-"
"Everyone to the mess hall! Now!"
They take off running, nearly tripping over each other in their haste.
"Well," Navi pipes up from my pocket. "Sounds like your mate can handle herself."
"That's my cue." I push away from the tree. "Time to show these amateurs how a real professional operates."
The chaos erupting from their comms grows louder as I sprint toward the invisible ship. Sounds like Alice is giving them quite the workout. Good - they'll be too distracted to notice me slipping aboard.
But just as I'm about to step on in, a crowd of large men pile back out, looking like they'd all seen a ghost.