Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Arin.” Her mother’s image appeared on the flatscreen as Arin sat forward, tension making her stiffen. For a moment they just stared at each other, two human beings trying to communicate something profound across the cold void of space.
They failed. If there was something Alison Varga lacked, it was the ability to express emotions with words.
Perhaps Arin had become a little that way herself.
Arin wanted to rail at her. She wanted to throw something at the screen and scream: why didn’t you fucking come when we were there the entire time, waiting to be rescued?
But she already knew the answer. Her mother was trained in the Federation way, and all she understood was hierarchy and protocol.
There was no way she would have gone against orders from Nova Terra.
When her mother joined Federation forces, she would have sworn to uphold and defend the people of Earth above all else.
Above all else.
Above family ties.
Above flesh-and-blood.
Sometimes, Arin wondered if these Federation people even remembered what it was like to think.
If Rykal’s brainwashing had been undone by time, hers had been undone by spending two long years with borderline criminals on a dilapidated, remote mining station.
The Federation wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” her mother said finally, shocking Arin to the core.
For the first time, she noticed the dark circles under the general’s eyes.
The lines at the corners of her eyes had become more prominent, and the hair at her temples had turned completely grey.
“Is anyone else with you?” She spoke in Universal, the standard language of the Federation forces.
If she’d wanted to be informal, she would have switched to English, but they just weren’t that close.
Rykal had found a patch of shadow in the corner of the pod; he was well out of sight of the holoscreen’s camera radius.
“I’m alone,” Arin replied, schooling her features into a blank expression. If it got out that there was a Kordolian on board, there would be trouble.
“When I heard that you weren’t on the last transport out, I sent a retrieval team in to find you.
” Her mother sat ramrod straight, not moving a muscle, but her voice carried the heavy weight of responsibility.
On paper, sending in a valuable retrieval team to rescue a single soul might be considered irresponsible by the bigheads in Nova Terra.
But General Varga had sent them in anyway.
Sometimes, actions spoke louder than words.
The senior Varga sighed. For the first time, Arin saw a woman who’d sacrificed family for duty and ambition, and had probably struggled with the weight of that her entire life.
“We lost six datafeeds in the blink of an eye.” There was nothing more to add to that.
They both knew what it meant. The retrieval team was dead.
“How did you get out, Arin? What happened?”
“There was an explosion from a volatile gas leak. The freighter’s taken a lot of damage from the Xargek.
I managed to get out, but they weren’t so fortunate.
I’m sorry.” She held her mother’s gaze, a tumult of conflicting emotions coursing through her.
She was surprised and grateful for her mother’s intervention, but survivor’s remorse stung hard.
“The freighter has become extremely volatile,” the general said softly, unable to offer Arin any sort of consolation.
“I knew that when I sent in the rescue squad. Questions are going to be asked, Arin. Nonhuman Affairs are already on my case. According to your squad members, you were seen with a Kordolian shortly before the last transport departed.”
“Negotiating isn’t a crime.” Arin froze, hoping Rykal would keep his cool. If they found out that he was inside the pod with her, listening in on a secure conversation, she could be in big trouble.
She discreetly tucked a hand behind her chair, motioning to Rykal to wait, because he could be unpredictable at times.
“I told them you couldn’t possibly be involved in anything untoward, but they want to bring you in for questioning anyway. I’d rather bring you to the Marcia immediately, but they assured me it would be brief.”
“Who?” Arin blinked in confusion.
“Nonhuman Affairs. One of their surveillance cruisers is in the vicinity. They’ll be retrieving you shortly.”
“But-” Arin opened her mouth to protest. This situation was getting way out of hand, and the last thing she wanted right now was to be put through an interrogation. She was hopelessly compromised, and she knew it. “I don’t have anything new for them.”
Except for her relationship with Rykal. Would they see through her? She was supposed to be collecting data on him, not sleeping with him, although she could spin the latter to her advantage if she really wanted to.
Sleeping with the enemy. Spies did that kind of shit, didn’t they?
Not that she’d ever have the stomach to lie about such a thing.
Sweet Rykal. How could she betray him when he’d saved her life and stuck with her every step of the way?
“I’m afraid this is out of my hands, Arin.
It’s above my security clearance. Just comply with their requests, and everything will be fine.
I’ll see you planetside.” Her tone softened.
“Even if I’m going to be reprimanded for breaching protocol, it doesn’t matter.
We managed to get all those people off the freighter with minimal loss of life. ”
“Yeah.” That was something, at least.
“FNA will make contact with you shortly. Stand by.” And just like that, the comm ended, and Arin was left wondering how she was going to get out of this galaxy-sized hole she’d dug herself into.
Rykal emerged from his corner. He regarded her with a long, burning look before he activated his comm and spoke to someone on the other end in rapid-fire Kordolian.
When he concluded his conversation, he drifted to her side like a silent shadow.
He’d activated his armor again, much to Arin’s disappointment.
She appreciated his naked form. He leaned in, his lips grazing her cheek.
“I don’t understand your planet’s politics, but you don’t need to shield me from your people.
They can’t halt the inevitable. I am an enemy to your people, Arin.
That isn’t going to change just because you’re mine.
” His lips found their way to hers, and he kissed her again.
“My brothers encountered a little problem, but they’re on their way now.
Soon, we’ll be away from all this unnecessary nonsense.
By now, your leaders should understand where we all stand. ”
She shook her head, her jaw set at a stubborn angle.
Her mind was racing. “We haven’t declared war on Kordolians and vice-versa, at least not yet.
I don’t think the Federation knows where you stand in the grand scheme of things, but we need you to kill the Xargek for us.
Maybe that makes us allies. What we’re doing isn’t breaking any laws, but my people won’t see it like that. ”
“I don’t care how they see it,” Rykal murmured. Perhaps Arin was imagining things, but he seemed to radiate menace. It was like a black aura surrounding him. “If they try and mess with you, they’ll answer to me.” He said it matter-of-factly, and that made his statement all the more chilling.
“Rykal,” Arin warned, “you need to let me deal with my people. They don’t respond well to threats and violence.”
“But they work, don’t they? Look how far we’ve come with just threats and violence.” Somehow, he managed to look deceptively innocent.
Arin wasn’t fooled. “You deal with your people, I’ll deal with mine.”
“That sounds rather sensible, Sergeant Varga.” Arin froze as the holoscreen came to life. There had been no calling chime; no accept/deny option. The holoscreen had just switched on, overriding the usual channels.
“What do you want?” Arin blurted, taken by surprise. On the other side of the comm was the woman who called herself E1. She was wearing Federation flight attire and sitting in what looked like a standard transport seat.
She wasn’t on Earth anymore; she was in space.
“It appears you’ve done exactly as we asked,” E1 said, giving Rykal a cold look. “We’ll be retrieving you now for a debrief. Get ready for an inter-space evac. We’re coming up beside you.”
“No,” Rykal growled, placing a possessive hand on Arin’s shoulder. It wasn’t just her imagination. A palpable darkness rolled off him, oppressive and terrifying. “She stays with me now.”
“We’re coming to retrieve her, alien. You don’t have a choice.”
“Touch her and I’ll skin you alive.”
E1 wasn’t moved by his threats. “The sergeant has some information we need. Therefore, we need her. In the event that we are unable to retrieve her, we have been authorized to erase that information in order to prevent it from getting into the wrong hands. As long as she’s with you, she’s a liability to Earth. ”
“Erase?” Rykal’s tone made the fine hairs on the back of Arin’s neck stand up.
“Rykal,” she began gently, trying to hold his seething anger at bay. She knew him well enough by now to be able to sense the danger radiating from him.
“There are two options here, alien. Release Sergeant Varga, and we will leave you, or keep her with you. If you refuse to let her go, we have no alternative but to eliminate the evidence.”
“What are you trying to say, agent?” Arin raised her voice in frustration. A bad feeling had wormed its way into the pit of her stomach. This didn’t make any sense. Evidence? Liability? The Kordolians could have pumped any of the humans on the Hendrix II for information.
“We have a high-powered pulse-cannon and four super-nuclear missiles aimed at your pod. In the event that we fail to retrieve the hostage, elimination has been approved.” The holoscreen flickered, showing a medium-sized Federation cruiser with artillery bristling from all sides.
“That’s insane,” Arin whispered, as Rykal went still. He was like a statue suspended in mid-air, barely breathing, barely moving a muscle, and that terrible tension was still rolling off him, growing in intensity until Arin could almost read his thoughts.
He wanted to kill his enemy, but the cold vacuum of space separated them.
If they were together in the same vessel, chances were E1 would be dead right now.
“Hand her over, alien, and nobody will get hurt. Refuse, and you’ll only have yourself to blame.”
Rykal’s hand was still on her shoulder. Arin covered his armor-encased fingers with her own, looking up at him. “I have to go with them. We have no choice.”
He nodded, staring straight at the holoscreen with scary intensity, as if he could burn through the woman with his eyes.
“Go,” he said softly, his gaze fixed upon the cold-faced woman on-screen.
“If anything happens to her,” he told E1, “I’ll personally hold you and your entire race responsible, and in my culture, revenge is sacred.
” He smiled, but there was nothing good in his smile.
It was a smile that held promises of blood and retribution.
It was the worst smile she’d ever seen him wear.
E1 looked right back at him, her face a blank mask. If she was at all bothered by his words, she didn’t show it. “She’s coming with us.”
Rykal glowered at the holoscreen as he moved back. Arin tried to appease him with her glance, but that feeling of dark pressure was still there, curdling the air until it was thick with a sense of impending violence.
Arin was glad Rykal was on her side, but if they ever made it to Earth, he would have to try and tone down that death-aura of his. It was enough to give people nightmares.
“Prepare for retrieval,” E1 said in that same emotionless tone. If Arin didn’t know better, she would have sworn the woman was an android.
She still couldn’t believe they had the audacity to threaten them like this. What right did they have to do this? Even if they were operating under the guise of protecting Earth’s borders, this kind of thing was unheard of.
Something was very, very wrong, and left with no other options, Arin was being forced to step into the belly of the beast. At gunpoint. Because she’d been consorting with aliens.
She was beyond compromised, and it was going to take all her wits to get out of this one unscathed.
“They’re dead if they hurt you,” Rykal whispered as he bent to retrieve his weapons. “Tell them whatever you have to. I trust you. You can’t betray me, even if you tell them the truth. You haven’t done anything wrong, my love.”
There was a dull thunk from outside. The retrieval pod had connected. Rykal palmed two of his small knives, the ones she’d seen him throw countless times with deadly precision, and passed them to her.
Thankfully, they were sheathed. Arin discreetly accepted them, stashing them in the inside pockets of her flight jacket before zipping it up.
“Just in case,” he whispered as the pod’s exit began to open, activated from the outside. The dull grey walls of a mobile airlock were revealed, and moments later, a space-trooper appeared in the doorway, his features obscured by a shiny black visor.
Rykal drifted to the side of the airlock, grabbing a handhold to steady himself in the weightless environment.
His sword appeared in his hand as the trooper brought up a bolt rifle.
“Stand down, alien. My boss doesn’t fuck around.
Any sign of trouble and we’re all going down. I’m as expendable as you are.”
Rykal glared at the trooper, his sword resting by his side. His demeanor was deceptively relaxed, but Arin knew he could explode into action at any moment.
She gave him a reassuring glance. Hold. Everything will be okay.
She didn’t know that for sure, but the situation right now called for calm.
Miraculously, he obeyed.