Chapter 19 #2
Normally, she might make a smartass quip or grumble to him about something right now, but the fight had gone out of her. She was breathing fast, her eyes wide, her body limp in his arms, as if all the life had been sucked out of it.
“They’re calling for me,” she said weakly as the comm device in her ear buzzed faintly with the sound of human speech. “The last retrieval is about to take off.”
As they hit a pocket of clean air, she started to gulp it in, taking deep breaths. “There’s no way we’d make it back there,” she gasped. “I’m going to have to let them take off.”
“The Arawen’s waiting for us in the third docking bay,” Rykal reminded her, setting her down gently.
To his relief, her respiratory rate was slowing and her skin was fading to its usual color, although her nose was still red, and she was sniffling terribly.
“We can’t go back into the corridor. I won’t risk you.
” He ran his fingers through her soft, golden hair.
“I usually have a pretty good sense of direction,” she said, her voice raspy, “but I have no idea where we are right now.” She reached out and flicked on the small light-thing at her wrist.
Her eyes grew distant as her comm buzzed. “The last human transport is leaving. They had no choice. The gas leak, or whatever it is, has spread to Docking Bay One.”
“This is my fault,” Rykal growled, bitterness creeping into his voice.
“I shouldn’t have delayed you.” Those small, stolen moments; that kiss, however delicious it may have been, they were now coming back to haunt him.
Those precious few sivs could now mean the difference between life and death for Arin.
Rykal had never had the responsibility of looking after another before, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow failing her.
Giving in to his impulses. Lack of self-control. Those were his weaknesses.
Arin took a deep breath and slapped him gently on the underside of the head. Rykal wished she’d hit him harder. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, soldier, but it won’t help you now. Instead of beating yourself up prematurely, find us a way out of here.”
Rykal raised his hand in a mock salute. “Yes, Ma’am.” His response made her smile. Her strength was returning, and that energized him. He looked around, gauging their surroundings.
They were in another docking bay, this one dark and disused.
“Rykal, the airlock’s open.” Torin spoke over the comm. “We can’t wait much longer. It’s going to close soon.”
“I’m coming. Just give me a siv to figure this out.” If he were on his own, he’d don his helm and run through the poisonous corridor. He’d reach the third dock with ease.
But he couldn’t, wouldn’t leave Arin. Not now, not ever.
“We’re moving into the airlock now,” Torin informed him. “We’ll wait as long as we can. But if this thing closes, the best we can do is loop back and find another retrieval point.”
Voices filtered to Rykal from beyond the walls. He shook his head.
Voices?
The freighter was supposed to be deserted, but they were definitely human voices.
“There are humans coming this way,” he said to Arin.
She stared at him as if he were hearing things. “Voices? I don’t hear anything.”
“Shh.” Rykal pulled her against him, listening carefully. The voices were accompanied by footsteps. It was the sound of multiple booted feet hitting the polished floor. The intruders stopped at the place where he’d carved a hole in the wall.
“Sergeant Arin Varga,” a human female yelled, “are you in there?”
Arin switched off her guide-light and looked up at Rykal. “Looks like mother’s sent a search-and-rescue team,” she whispered.
“Mother?” Rykal’s ears twitched in surprise.
“It’s a long story. Listen, I’d better go with them. It’s best if you join your people. I don’t think a warship full of human peacekeepers would be the best place for you, but I need to be there to explain the situation.” She caressed the side of his face, her gaze full of tender longing.
Rykal understood perfectly. He could make it down to the third docking bay, but her fragile body might not survive. He would have to leave her here. His instincts railed against it, but he had no choice.
First and foremost, she had to survive.
“I want you so badly,” he growled. “I don’t want to give you to anyone.”
“Soon,” Arin murmured. “First, let’s get off this junk heap before we suffocate to death.”
“Varga?” The voice called out again, sounding slightly distorted.
“I’m here,” Arin yelled back. The footsteps grew louder. She squeezed Rykal’s hand. “Disappear, my love.”
Rykal reluctantly disengaged from her, his fingers sliding out of hers. “I’ll come for you,” he whispered, before fading into the shadows beyond the radius of her small blue light.
Human soldiers filed through the hole in the wall. Rykal retreated into a corner, watching. After what had happened on Fortuna Tau, he didn’t trust humans in the slightest, and he needed to make sure Arin was safe before he left her.
He counted six in total; all of them carried bolt rifles and wore respirators that obscured their faces. Their eyes were hidden behind glowing green lenses; presumably, these devices helped them see in the dark.
“Sergeant Varga, I’m Captain Ross, of the FSS Marcia’s elite tactical squad. We’ve come to get you out of here on General Varga’s orders. There seems to be a serious oxygen leak on this freighter. The entire vessel is compromised. We need to go, now.”
Another soldier stepped forward and handed Arin a breathing apparatus. “Let’s go, Sergeant.”
“Where’s the Kordolian?” Ross demanded, as Arin donned her respirator.
Her eyes widened in a perfect expression of innocence. She was magnificently deceptive. “What Kordolian?”
“We were told there was a Kordolian warrior with you. Some of your peacekeepers were concerned he might try to harm you.”
Arin shrugged. “That was a while ago. He disappeared somewhere. I have no idea where. You expect me to keep tabs on aliens now?”
“Huh.” Ross stared at the hole in the wall and hesitated. Then she turned, pointing with her gun. “Let’s get out of here. The pilot’s getting edgy. Doesn’t want to risk another Xargek attack.”
Relieved that Arin was amongst friendlies, Rykal waited until the last of the human soldiers had disappeared through the hole in the wall.
“Rykal.” This time, it was Kail who came on the line. “If you don’t get your shiny silver ass down here right now, you’re going to be in for a world of pain. Stop fucking around with your precious humans. We’re leaving. Now!”
The laconic Kail rarely ever got so riled up. That meant he was tense. That meant the situation was serious.
Rykal had a tiny window during which he could make it to their ship; otherwise he’d be stuck on a disintegrating freighter with Xargek, oxygen leaks, and noxious gases until they could figure out a way to retrieve him.
It didn’t bother him. He’d dealt with worse. He’d gladly take on a Xargek horde if it meant Arin was safe.
But it would be a pain-in-the-ass if he got stuck here.
He decided to make a run for it. “I’m on my way,” he said to Kail as he activated his full armor.
His body was fully healed now, and the nanites swarmed onto his skin without resistance.
His helm would protect him from the toxic vapor in the corridor.
“But if you’re out of time and you have to go, just go. I’ll figure shit out.”
Kail signed off with an irritated grunt. Rykal put his head down and dashed through the deserted dock, exiting through the hole he’d made. He sped through the corridor in the opposite direction to the humans, heading for the third docking bay.
Raised voices drifted after him; the human soldiers were yelling something in their language.
Someone must have spotted him. Whatever. They couldn’t hurt him.
As Rykal pushed through the chemical smog, a flash lit up the darkness. He glanced over his shoulder. One of the humans had fucking shot at him.
There was a spark, and then the world around him turned into fire.
No!
Rykal stopped, turned, and ran faster than he’d ever run in his life.