Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Keva Um’plem, it turned out, was a satellite port orbiting the Class One planet Silomen.
Last night I’d spent hours in the mess with the rest of the crew, listening to Captain Ruciyah explain the job we had to do today. Now my heartbeat thundered in my ears as the Kuxatana docked in one of the many loading bays. I stood between the captain and Crux, taking in slow sips of air.
My clothes were similar to the ones I’d worn yesterday when I arrived on the ship, though the cowl had a bottom section I could tuck around my ears to obscure the bottom half of my face.
When the captain turned to me and gave a slight nod, I pulled the fabric up alongside Crux, who wore a similar face covering.
Since we traveled with a true Quinzyr, Crux and me covering our faces wouldn’t seem out of place.
Once the ramp extended, the captain strode forward first and we fell into step behind him.
I was grateful for the cowl when every few moments Crux’s eyes flicked in my direction.
But the male did not try to speak as we made our way through the crowd of milling tourists, all waiting for clearance to land on Silomen.
We veered right at the hangar, turned down a less populated hallway and stopped at a small door marked Maintenance.
Crux moved closer to Asher. With their bulk and height, I was all but invisible behind them as I touched the small magnetic square to the panel beside the frame.
The males spoke in low voices, the sound a hum that covered up the hiss of the door opening and then closing behind me.
The maintenance closet was exactly as Maxtalen had described: a small room of panels controlling the various environmental units in this section of the port.
Scanning the ceiling, I caught sight of the vent nestled into the back corner of the room.
My lips twisted at the irony. My life seemed to revolve around shimmying into ventilation units.
I placed my toe on one of the edges of the control panels and braced myself on either wall as I climbed to reach.
It was finicky to avoid the various levers and buttons.
However, there were plenty of grooves for my fingers to dip into or small ledges to balance the toe of my boot on before the cold metal of the vent hummed against my skin and I pushed it to the side.
Unlike the last time I’d been in a ventilation shaft, my clothes didn’t squeak as I maneuvered my way in.
It was easy to pull myself up and replace the grate before tugging one of the small communicators from my pocket and putting it in my ear.
“Juniper?” Maxtalen’s voice was tinny but clear.
“In,” I answered.
A sigh of relief slipped through the communicator, swallowed by the sounds of tapping. “Right now, you’re in the west quadrant and our mark should be in one of the rooms within that sphere. I’ve got your location from the comm so as soon as you see him, let us know.”
He was repeating himself, tone wobbly with nerves.
Last night Captain Ruciyah had shown us the image of the male who apparently had information on the whereabouts of the stone.
But he had been on the run for months after killing an entire freighter load of travelers coming from quadrant one to two and was known to disappear into a crowd.
Therefore, it was up to me to confirm his location before calling in the captain and Crux.
I wasn’t exactly sure what would happen once they had him, but I didn’t think they were going to ask politely where the stone was.
Carefully I crawled, stopping every so often to peek down into the various rooms within this part of the ship.
Mainly they were small dining areas or quarters someone could rent for a few credits to rest while their ship was serviced.
One room was full of an assortment of strange exercise equipment, but it was empty.
“Anything?” Maxtalen’s tinny voice rattled in my ear.
I shook my head before remembering he couldn’t see me. “No.”
“You’re coming up on one final private chamber. If he’s not—”
The room was dark, but not dark enough I couldn’t make out the form of a male sleeping beneath a silvery sheet. His red hair splayed out across one pillow and the pale circular markings down his wide face and the slits at his throat identified him clearly enough.
“Here.”
I’d barely finished the word before the door burst open. Crux slammed his fist on the control panel, flooding the room with light.
“Wakey, wakey!” he singsonged in his raspy voice.
The male jolted upright, one of his webbed hands flying to his blaster, but Crux was already on him, pinning his arms as the male flopped wildly.
“No, no, no, no,” he whimpered over and over, his voice a strange warble.
Sharp teeth glinted in the light as Crux grinned. “Oh, yes.”
Heavy footsteps echoed through the room.
When the male caught sight of Captain Ruciyah striding through the door, his thrashes grew frantic, translucent skin flushing a bright red and the slits in his throat flapping with each rise of his chest. Crux threw a forearm over the male’s neck to keep him still, but the captain did not approach, only stood at the end of the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Where is it?”
A horrible gurgling noise slipped through the male’s lips.
“Crux, you’re choking our friend.”
Crux backed off, stepping to the side so he was next to the male’s head, a hand splayed over his chest. Though I could only see the captain’s cowl, it moved enough to tell me he’d tilted his head to the side in the same way he had inspected me earlier.
“I—I—I don’t know what you’re looking for,” the male wheezed.
Captain Ruciyah’s hum was resonant. Slowly, he lowered his arms, taking a step toward the male.
Energy crackled around him, as if violence was a creature that wrapped around his shoulders like a pet with a master.
The deep red of the male’s face receded into a purplish-pink, the slash of his mouth opening.
“You know, the last person we spoke to had a different story,” Asher rumbled. “You remember Zekyl, don’t you?”
Crux raised his hand up to shoulder height. “About yea high and holding an impressive amount of blood in his body?”
My blood ran cold at the tone in their voices. I knew all too well the cruelty the universe cultivated and it was clearly rampant in these two males.
“Captain.” Maxtalen’s voice was sharp through the comm in my ear. “Captain, someone is coming.”
Captain Ruciyah flashed a look at Crux, who strode to the door, tugging a blaster from his hip. I could hear the footsteps even from the ventilation unit, the sound of a voice humming with quickened speech.
The male in the bed started to screech, but Captain Ruciyah stepped forward, covered his mouth and drew out the black quara blade on his hip. But the door hissed open, one of the workers from the port blinking at Crux with wide eyes.
“More are coming. You need to make this quick,” Maxtalen warned through our comms. “Get the twins in there now.”
Crux closed a hand over the worker’s neck, thumb pressing firmly on a spot where their shoulder and rail-thin neck met. Immediately they crumpled into his arms and he murmured something in their ear as he guided them toward the ground.
Captain Ruciyah crowded the male in the bed, the tip of his blade pressed against the slits at the side of his throat, before he lowered his hand from the male’s mouth. “Where is it?” It wasn’t a question—it was a command.
Sweat dewed beneath my hands. My breath came in ragged pants. But I didn’t move. The male lifted his hands, spreading his fingers wide enough the webbing was stretched to a pale pink, the triangular fins beneath his wrists trembling. “Please, please, the last I heard the stone was on Selhveina—”
My heart stopped, pulsed, then lurched in my throat. The edges of my vision blurred and acid coated my tongue as I took a deep breath through my nose.
Before the male could say another word, Crux’s fist crashed down on the side of his head. Translucent blood exploded from the male’s face and, though his chest rose and fell, his body went limp. Silence threaded through the room, Crux panting as he shook out his hand.
“We need to work on your impulse control.” Captain Ruciyah pulled out a communicator from his pocket.
Rhiaon and Rhys pushed a cart through the door, dressed in the same uniforms as the other workers on the port.
Rhiaon reached down to tug open the hatch of the cart while Crux gathered the unconscious male into his arms. But I didn’t see it, not really.
No, all I knew was the raging fire, the heat of it licking at my skin, the screams in my ears as everyone I knew in the universe died.
“Juniper,” a low voice called. I jumped, realizing the black helmet was peering up at me. “It’s time to go.”
When I didn’t move, the captain sighed, planted one foot on the bed and reached for the vent. My mind whirled back to life and I curled trembling fingers around the grate, sliding it to the side.
He replaced his foot on the floor as I slid out, keeping one hand on the lip of the opening while I attached the hook Maxtalen had given me to the metal.
Though my knees felt weak, I landed soundlessly beside Captain Ruciyah, tugging on the line to pull the grate back into place before flicking the magnet off so the hook skittered back into my palm.
The last I heard the stone was on Selhveina.
How long ago had that been? And why did each nerve in my body fire at the sight of the captain staring down at me like a coward behind his mask?
After a moment, he turned, striding toward the door without a backward glance, confident I would follow.
And, with a knot I could barely swallow, I did.