Chapter 7 #3
Thank God someone had their head screwed on straight.
Wid broke his gaze from the captain to watch Joel fiddle with a recessed panel.
A shimmering occurred along all of the cells’ walls and with a whoop of relief, the prisoners rushed out.
Kell strode straight to Wid and grabbed him by the upper arms. Wid swallowed a yelp when the larger alien lifted him on his toes and brought their faces within inches of each other.
“What a clever pet you are,” Kell all but purred in a low voice. His gaze raked Wid. “Did Garen hurt you very badly?”
Wid almost shrugged his night of terror off, then thought better of it. “Yes, he did.”
Kell’s face came even closer. Their noses brushed briefly. “I would kill him for that alone.”
“Good.” His parents had always told him that civilization required measured responses of justice, not revenge.
At that moment, Wid didn’t care. He wanted the alien who’d tortured him to die.
Funny how things had changed, how he had changed.
Being held by Kell, even in this almost brutal way, held a comfort for him that he found surprising, yet couldn’t deny.
The thought of Kell killing Garen even partially in Wid’s defense made him feel cherished when it should have revolted him.
The Travian had had a profound effect on him and perhaps that meant Wid had had at least some effect on the Travian too.
The released prisoners wasted no time in raiding the weapons stored somewhere in the brig or nearby.
Wid wasn’t sure exactly how they’d managed to arm themselves so quickly.
Narith hustled up to Wid and Kell and handed the captain a weapon.
Kell released Wid and grabbed the offering with obvious relish.
The other alien smiled at his captain, then turned to Wid.
“How does my pet fair?”
Wid didn’t find it strange that the alien had bothered to ask. His affection for Stuart had been obvious. “He’s fine. Everyone is waiting back at our quarters for us to return.”
“You will do so, now. Go back the way you came,” Kell ordered with a jerk of his head toward the place the boys had dropped down from. “When we have dealt with the others, I will send someone to let you know.”
Kell turned away, assuming that Wid would do as he was told. Well, fuck that.
“Wait,” Wid said, grabbing the captain’s arm. Kell frowned down at the hold, but Wid didn’t let go. “I want to come with you.”
“No, it is too dangerous, pet.”
“The whole fucking ship is dangerous, Master,” he replied heatedly. “Give us all weapons, so we can defend ourselves. And, I want to stick with you. The others will go back to our quarters to protect the boys still there in case anything goes wrong. It’s all we ask for setting you free.”
“You can’t arm the pets, Captain,” Firth said, ignoring the glare Joel shot him.
“They should be able to at least choose their own destiny if we fail, sir,” Narith said.
Kell looked around at his crew for a second before turning his attention back to Wid. “If we arm you, you will surrender them once we retake the ship. You will not use them against us to try to escape. Agreed?”
Wid closed his eyes for a second, feeling the weight of his decision.
Did he even have the right to make such a promise on behalf of the others?
Would they accept their fate as alien pets just because the more brutal ones had been eliminated?
Their secret passageways, the only chance they had to escape, was known now.
They’d never be able to use them. Opening his eyes again, he searched for Joel and the others.
He raised his eyebrows at them. One by one, they nodded.
They didn’t look happy, but at least they were willing to take the devil’s bargain.
“Agreed,” he said to Kell.
“Arm them,” the captain called out to no one in particular. “And get these three back into the ducts after you show them how to fire the weapons. We don’t want our pets shooting themselves, now do we?”
The look the captain sent Wid held a world of meaning.
Wid understood the alien was telling him that he didn’t want the pets killing themselves deliberately, yet accepted that some or all might choose to do so regardless of the outcome.
In that, Wid couldn’t give any assurances.
He only knew that he wasn’t going to take that route unless Kell failed.
He hadn’t missed, either, that Kell had ordered only the other three boys back into the passageways.
Wid would march with Kell to confront the mutineers.
Kell braced his legs, keeping his weapon at the ready, as he rode the auxiliary lift to the bridge.
About a third of his loyal crew were with him.
Narith had headed to the main lift with another third, hopefully not running into too many of those loyal to Garen as he tried to reach the bridge.
Firth, meanwhile, had gone to secure the engine room if possible.
Kell didn’t want it to turn into a bloody battle to regain control of the ship.
High Command would not view him favorably if he did, no matter that Garen had acted inappropriately in the first place.
Kell’s best bet was to take Garen by surprise and challenge him to personal combat.
If he could kill the upstart, the mutiny would be over without more loss of life.
Without a leader, the others would fall back into line.
It was a calculated risk, of course. Garen held the advantage of being younger and more heavily muscled.
Kell liked to think he had greater incentive.
He resisted the urge to look behind him.
His pet stood buried way in the back of the lift, as safe as Kell could make him with a wall of larger males concealing him.
Damn fool thought he could hold his own if a fight broke out.
Of course, he’d proved to be very clever indeed, finding the electrical conduits of the ship.
But for the mutiny, Kell would have put an end to those sorties.
It was fortunate that he hadn’t had time to mention it to anyone and that Garen was as dull-witted as Kell had always suspected.
If the mutineer had reasoned things out, Kell would still be waiting in the brig for a laser blast to his head.
His pet had come for him. That thought pleased him even as he focused on the fight ahead.
Of course, the humans would see the rescue as self-serving.
Garen and the others had brutalized them, making Kell and his compatriots seem desirable in comparison.
That notion didn’t please him as much. It was stupid, but he would have liked to have thought his pet rescued him out of affection and loyalty.
He was being a sentimental idiot. The humans were sex slaves, not willing concubines.
He couldn’t be surprised if the humans reneged on the promise not to use the weapons to try to escape.
Worse, they might use them to self-terminate.
The idea of Wid, his precious pet, killing himself to avoid Kell’s touch caused a frisson of fear to run through him.
He stifled the response. He couldn’t show anything remotely like that right now.
The floor gauge indicated they had almost reached their destination.
Everyone in the lift stiffened with readiness.
When the doors slid quietly open, they poured out into the bridge, weapons up.
They fanned out along the perimeter to circle as much of the startled bridge crew as they could.
An instant later, the main lift opened and Narith charged in with his complement of males.
The replacement navigator jumped up from his station, reaching for his sidearm as he did so.
And didn’t the fact that the bridge crew believed they needed to be armed condemn Garen’s command more than anything else?
“Don’t!” Kell barked. “I have no interest in killing any of you. Don’t force me to.”
He stared down the younger officer, whose hand still hovered around his weapon.
Uncertainty crossed his face, as it did the others on the bridge, some still sitting at their stations, others standing.
With so many weapons trained on them from all sides, the males made the right choice and slowly moved their hands to the small of their backs.
“What the fuck!” Garen raced out of his ready room—Kell’s ready room. He took in the scene before snarling at Kell. “How did you escape?” His gaze shifted and his expression turned feral. Kell didn’t break his concentration, but knew Garen must be looking at Wid.
“Of course, the human cunt found a way to get to you.” He glanced around the walls above everyone’s head. “The conduits,” he ground out.
Kell allowed himself a condescending smile. “It seems they were far smarter than either of us realized.”
“Another failing of yours, proving you are unfit for command.” Spittle flew out of Garen’s mouth at his mounting fury.
“A failing that we obviously share,” Kell allowed. “I won’t make that mistake again and neither will you, because this mutiny ends now.”
Garen bared his teeth. “No, I am captain and I will stay as such.”
“Don’t be more of a fool than you already are. We have you surrounded here and Firth is taking the engine room as we speak. If you insist on fighting, many will die. A good commander doesn’t sacrifice his crew for nothing.”
“I will not cede control back to you!” Garen practically shouted his denial, telling Kell how far to the edge his junior officer had gone.
“I don’t expect you to.” Kell kept his tone more controlled and civilized. “You know there is a way to settle this with only one death. I challenge you to personal combat.”