Chapter 34
According to the habitat, nothing transpired last night.
No remnants of the tussle with Roys remained.
Arana spoke nothing of the incident. The messages we received from the captain were no different either.
My orders were to fly the shuttle. Iylene would be my co-captain.
Roys would not be joining us, claiming he had paperwork and we could handle ourselves.
I wouldn’t go see him, no matter how much my body tried to betray me, no matter how worried I was.
Wondering what he was doing, if he was resting, if he was itching to take more, if he had taken the medicine I left for him.
Tareik had a stockpile in case anyone had these issues, which in the militia was a guarantee.
Leaving the barracks, I nearly turned around to check and berated myself for considering messaging him.
I wasn’t at fault for anything. He made a mistake — a huge one, and I cleaned up the mess.
Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
On the shuttle, Maddy sat between Elado and Galya. Though Maddy wore no expression, I sensed her distress at being bombarded by Galya’s constant dribble. For once, I would prefer that over my own thoughts. Before I left last night, I put a note on Roys’ commlink that his son called.
His son.
My fingers flexed on the wheel. I had the sudden urge to bite down on a piece of candy, on a cherry flavor too sweet, that would make my teeth ache with such pain I couldn’t think.
His family… I couldn't see him being the cheating type.
It hadn't even really crossed my mind. Those two, they saw me for that brief moment, thinking of me as one of his officers, which I was.
Nothing more. Just the complete fucking idiot that helped hide a huge fuck up that would have gotten him reassigned.
That boy’s face flashed in my mind. Roys lying unconscious on the bed. The broken vials in the grass. The horror in his eyes. How he was so desperate for the synthetic he broke my nose for it…
I didn’t care. None of it mattered. I would forget in a day or so. Roys would ensure that, seeing as he was pretending to forget, too.
Throughout the day, he never messaged. I didn’t either.
Iylene took to waiting in the cockpit, with minor convincing from me, while I followed the survey team around.
If I sat in the cockpit all day, I would do something stupid, like call Roys and ask about his family, what happened last night, why he hadn’t reached out yet, if his mind was as muddled by the thought of me as mine was of him…
Keeping my attention on the survey team, even letting Galya talk to me about a previous expedition, was the best choice.
Her constant chatter proved useful for my ailing mind that wouldn’t let me forget dragging Roys’ limp body to bed.
But even Galya couldn’t spare me all day.
She was working and went to Elado while I kept checking the perimeter.
I knocked into someone. Thankfully, not Galya.
I might have crushed her, or she might have thrown me.
I met Arana’s gaze. There was movement nearby — little cat-like critters that munched on flora stalks, but nothing to worry over.
Meaning there was no reason for Arana to leave formation.
She had her commlink up. The distraction led to her meandering about.
She suddenly hid her commlink behind her back.
“Were you watching some home videos of your girlfriends?” I teased because that was what I would do. Because I was fine and normal and nothing was tearing me apart at the seams.
“I wasn’t watching anything.”
“Then what were you reading?”
“Nothing,” she answered too fast. “I should get back in formation.”
“You shouldn’t have wandered out of it.”
Arana was shit at gambling because she was shit at lying.
She didn’t have a poker face. She had a “I’m totally lying” face, and while her visor hid that, I had the sneaking suspicion she was suppressing something.
Or perhaps I had become paranoid after what happened with Roys.
Had I intervened sooner, this never would have happened.
I would have never seen him like that. He wouldn’t have had to suffer.
“Neither should you. Go away,” she said, cursing when I went for her commlink. She crossed her arms. “You know you can’t grab my commlink off me.”
“But you trying to hide it proves that you are hiding something.”
“Yeah, well, that seems to be a common occurrence around here.”
My tongue ran over the back of my teeth. “You know enough, so share a little of your secret.”
Behind us, Ryker had his blade out, pretending to fight an imaginary warrior.
He nearly lopped his own finger off. Lilea made friends with a bug that nestled on her outstretched hand.
She was shaking, so she had probably been standing like that for a while.
Iylene watched, devoid of emotion but no doubt enjoying themselves.
Zavir knelt by Elado, asking questions while Maddy poked at flora. In short, no one paid us any mind.
“There is no secret.” She stood so stiffly one might think she was a statue.
“Suspicious. Let me see what you were reading.”
“No.” She flinched. Her fingers twitched. My scanner showed nothing on our visor. Nothing around us proved a threat, nor was she injured anywhere that I knew of, so I could only conjure one reason she would flinch like that.
“Did you get a new message?” I asked.
“No.”
“Go on. Read it.”
She hummed. I hummed. She didn’t move. I didn’t move.
The survey team would be here for a few more hours.
Arana knew I could be stubborn. She saw further proof of that last night.
And she had proven to keep those secrets, that she’d help me, if she could.
When I told her she shouldn’t, that we should look out for ourselves…
“I missed my payments,” she spat out.
“As in the payments to the deadly mob boss that threatened to put your head on a pike outside his casino? His payments?”
Groaning, her head dropped into her hands.
My tracker didn’t show any threats, but I surveyed the area, anyway. The paranoia gnawing at me amplified tenfold because any noise could be a whole new kind of threat. “How many payments have you missed?”
“Three… in a row.”
“For fuck’s sake. Why?”
“I have bills to pay!” She threw her hands over her visor where her mouth would be as if that would quiet her. No one looked our way, and that would change if I raised my voice like I wanted to.
Jabbing her in the chest with the butt of my weapon, I hissed, “Bullshit. You were gambling online again. Fuck, A, I thought we blocked that.”
She didn’t deny the accusation because she knew she was in hot shit. Now we knew she was in hot shit. I saw what Benno did at the Colony to those who pissed him off. If the shitbag after her was similar, beheading her would be a relief.
“It’s fine. He, I mean, we’re light years away.” She gripped her weapon as if she thought someone might attack.
“He has plenty of ships that could get here in a week, tops.”
“He does not know where we are. Even if he did, he wouldn’t attack us while we’re on a mission.”
“The mob boss with connections across the galaxy doesn’t know where we are? Don’t be ridiculous. If he doesn’t know, he will find out soon enough, and he’ll have one of his goons feed you to the plants on this deadly mission where no one will be the wiser.”
If I could see Arana through her visor, I bet she would be pale as death.
The Planet would make for a perfect attack.
We were the only ones here. They could sneak into the habitat and use our incinerator to be rid of her remains, if they wanted.
Easier for them to drag her out into the jungle and leave her for The Planet to feast on.
Even if anyone were suspicious, the militia wouldn’t look into her death.
She’d be another pair of boots to fill and they could fill them easily enough.
“You have a point,” she said in a weak breath.
“Damn it all, what did the message say?”
Arana held up her commlink. There were dozens of messages, the first of which came last night. “I woke up to my commlink buzzing like crazy. That’s when I saw you weren’t in the room. I was looking for you when you returned.”
That made sense. Arana was a hard sleeper. She had her commlink set to remind her about her payments, and apparently any messages from him because of shit like this. I should have suspected more last night, but at least I knew now.
He was incredibly detailed in describing the many ways she could die.
People like that didn’t make threats. They offered a promise that took time to reach fruition.
If he wanted Arana dead, then she would be.
She was a walking corpse unless we did something…
like tell Roys, who could keep us on high alert under any excuse he wanted.
But I wasn’t sure he was in the right headspace for that shit.
I wasn’t either.
“It was stupid. I know it was stupid. I took a couple of chances that fell through,” she said around a nervous laugh. “But we get paid this week. He’ll get a payment and back off.”
A fool’s hope. People like that didn’t run crime syndicates that spanned galaxies because they were understanding.
“We need to tell the others,” I said.
“No, it’s not something for them to worry about.”
I didn’t think I had any right to lecture her on this.
I wasn’t forthcoming about what happened with Roys, or anything that happened with me.
Our group had been a comfort over the years, but others had come and gone.
I wouldn’t have considered any of them dear friends because I couldn’t afford that.
We didn’t live in a reality that rewarded us for loyalty, but…
Arana showed loyalty more often than I could count, and Roys had, too. Troubled as he was, as we all were.
“It’s something we all have to worry about because those fuckers are on their way. Together, we can keep an eye on things,” I said.
“How is helping me watching out for yourself?” Her visor lightened to reveal the genuine curiosity in her eyes. “You said you would always choose yourself first.”
“I still am. If they are coming after you, the rest of us are in danger.” The lie tasted foul.
She laughed, somewhere between sad and relieved. “You’re right. We should tell them.”
“When we get back to the habitat?”
Nodding, we left it at that. Arana stayed in her position, and I returned to mine.
In a fucked-up way, her trouble was a relief.
The revelation of her predicament offered a moment to separate myself from my issues.
The trouble with Roys lingered in the back of my mind while I considered our next moves to keep Arana safe.
Back at the habitat, I didn’t see Roys and didn’t have the time to look for him.
I sent Zavir, Lilea, Iylene, and Ryker a message to meet in mine and Arana’s room to discuss a concerning matter.
Soon, the six of us crowded together where Arana sat on my bunk, her head lowered and Iylene’s stern gaze on her.
“You are a fool,” said Iylene, hands on their hips and tongue flicking with an agitation unbecoming of them.
“She knows.” I slapped her back. Arana grumbled. “But we aren’t here to discuss her stupidity. We need to agree to let the others know if we notice anything suspicious.”
“Do you honestly believe this mob boss can reach Arana out here? I understand someone coming from the Company, they have the right connections, but…?” Ryker asked with a lit cigarette tapping against his bottom lip.
“Without a doubt,” said Zavir, causing Arana to flinch. Lilea took to sitting beside her so she could rub Arana’s back.
“They are unlikely to do anything purposefully to get the militia’s attention.
However, if we get involved or are in the way, they will come after us, too.
Nothing will stop these people, save their own deaths,” I said, reminding all of them what kind of trouble we could all get into.
Our deaths would merely be a reason for them to charge more.
“Shouldn’t we tell the captain?” Lilea suggested.
My gaze drifted to my silent commlink. He hadn’t messaged and every part of me screamed, aching to see him, to hear from him, to run my fingers through his hair and listen to his heart beating.
“What could he do?” Ryker replied. “We have a mission here, and he either won’t jeopardize that by reassigning Arana, which means we can’t watch her, or ignore the issue altogether. I say we keep this to ourselves.”
Zavir and Arana gave their agreement. Iylene was open to changing their mind, and Lilea gave in after that. I didn’t give my thoughts because there were too many, and none of them I could share. All I knew was that we were in a shit ton of trouble, in more ways than one.