Chapter 31
31
Flowing swaths of white and silver digital gossamer adorned the main deck ballroom, cascading from the rafters to brush against the floor. Tiny bubbles of golden light shimmered over the soft fabric, rising toward the ceiling like the entire room had been dropped into the bottom of a champagne glass. It was pure elegance. Which, let’s be real, for this ship, was miraculous.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Freddie said, coming up behind me, his breath tickling my ear.
I turned to face him.
“That outfit.” His hungry gaze devoured me, sliding down the crimson silk of my jumpsuit, past the matching velvet cuffs encircling my ankles, all the way to my intricately jeweled heels that sparkled in the golden light of the digital effects. “Spectacular.”
“You don’t look half-bad yourself.”
“What, this old thing?” He waved a hand over his immaculate three-piece suit.
Sliding my hands up his chest, I pinched the folded corner of his red pocket square. “It matches my outfit. Which”—I raised a brow—“you haven’t seen until now.”
He smiled at my bemused expression. “Pure luck.”
“Let me guess. You have a collection of pocket squares in your Perfect Venusian Gentleman kit. Which you keep nestled between your guide to flawlessly messy hair and whatever magical concoction always makes your breath smell minty.”
“Naturally,” he said, staring at my tits. “Hmm, I like what you’ve done here.” Carefully, he raised the spindle of my Orion’s Tooth from where it dangled between my breasts.
“I thought it would make a nice necklace.”
When he pressed the tooth back into place, his finger followed the line of it all the way down to its tip, coming dangerously close to disappearing down my top.
“See you after the party?” I asked, staring down at his finger, wishing we were alone so he could trace a path all the way down my body. We’d both work the floor tonight, but I’d been assigned specifically to the Kravaxians. Which meant I wouldn’t see much of him until after the ball dropped.
“Count on it,” he said, dropping his hand to his side and kissing my cheek.
I let him go first, mainly so I could admire his butt as he strolled toward the bar, where Garran and Kasa were ordering drinks.
“Sunny,” said a low, smooth voice behind me. “What are you staring at?”
I spun around to find the ship’s handsome, blue-skinned Portisan physician grinning at me. “Dr. Semson,” I said, clearing the guilty I-was-staring-at-Freddie’s-ass warble from my throat. “You got the night off?”
He sighed deeply. “Not quite. I’m on call. Crossing my fingers that everyone behaves themselves tonight. ”
I gave him a dubious look. He sighed even more deeply. And we both laughed.
“Well, it’s good to see you out of the med bay,” I said. “You work too much.”
His silver brows crowded into a concerned furrow. “I don’t think I’m the only one.”
“Empaths,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Don’t look at me like that, Doctor. I’m fine.”
While his unease gave way to something softer, lighter, he murmured, “Hmm. I think you’re right.” Pointing his chin at Freddie across the room, he said, “He makes you happy. Wait,” he reconsidered, his eyes narrowing, his focus sharpening. “He does more than that. He gives you the space to feel whatever you need to feel. Happy, but also sad.” His gaze slid to meet mine. “That can be hard to find in a partner. Oh, crud. Sunny, are you okay?”
Tears had swelled to hover over the brim of my lids. “Yep,” I said, refusing to blink, refusing to cry at a party.
“I’m sorry.” His blue lips pressed together apologetically. “I was way out of line. It’s just, well, it’s wonderful. Seeing you like this.”
I knew what he meant. He’d been my physician for years. He’d read my past medical history. He was an empath. He knew what no one else did, and yet he’d never said a word, never asked me a single question about Jonathan. Because empaths also knew when a being wasn’t ready to speak. “Thank you, Sem,” I said, my eyes dry enough now to risk a blink. “You’re right. It is wonderful.” I looked over at Freddie, watched him place a hand on Garran’s forearm. “He’s patient and understanding, and he’s a good listener. He’s helping me…work through some things.”
“Sometimes that’s all we need,” Sem said with a firm nod—an appreciative period on the end of this conversation. “ I’m going to try to enjoy myself for as long as I can before at least one of these beings needs IV sobering fluids.”
Kissing his cheek, I wished him a long night out of the med bay, then I turned to scan the room. I searched for them, but I didn’t see Sonia or Lena. I thought they’d come tonight, but although we celebrated New Year’s aboard the Ignisar on this date, it was only because all LunaCorp ships followed the Standard year calendar. The actual date of the New Year varied wildly from planet to planet, and on Tranquis, it wasn’t for another several months. Perhaps they’d decided to sit this party out.
As I made my way toward the Kravaxian’s table, Freddie commed, Did you know they were leaving tonight?
Who? I replied.
Garran and Kasa. Their shuttle departs after midnight.
I stalled out, my heart giving a little hiccup. They weren’t supposed to disembark for another week.
I know, Freddie said. But Kasa’s mother has developed a cough, and Kasa wants to get her back home. Garran has decided to join them.
Please don’t let them leave without giving me a chance to say goodbye. Seeing guests off after their stay was a normal part of my life. But Garran was different. Garran, I would miss.
I won’t. And have fun with the FFKs. But I’ve got my eye on Axel. Muttering over the comm, he added, Thinks he can hit on you without anyone noticing…
Fredrick Caruthers, are you jealous?
Yes. His laughter brushed between my ears, stirring the hairs on the back of my neck. Intensely.
Aside from Reya—who’d spent the entire evening in the control booth with Tig—the Kravaxians all sat at their table, watching the party unfold while they nursed their drinks.
Enjoying yourself? Elanie commed.
Decidedly not. What are you doing?
Helping Freddie manage a table of inebriated Blurvans and watching you stare off into space.
I glanced around the room until I spotted Freddie sitting at the Blurvans’ table, his arm slung around a young male’s shoulders as they swayed side to side, the Blurvan’s gelatinous belly wobbling with laughter.
Stars . What are they doing? Are they—I squinted—singing?
Standing next to the table with her arms crossed over her chest, Elanie commed, If you could call it that. It’s apparently some Blurvan drinking song that goes on and on. They won’t let Freddie leave.
Just to Elanie’s side, I noticed a bionic with bright-blue eyes and jet-black hair sitting at a table of other young males and staring brazenly at her ass.
Don’t look now, Elanie. But you are being checked out.
What? What does that mean?
It means, I commed, that someone here is interested in you. Romantically.
What? she commed again, her shoulders hitching toward her ears, her head ducking low like she was trying to hide inside her dress. Who? Why?
A handsome bionic behind you, and because you are exceptional.
As discreetly as she had ever been, she looked back, pretending to scratch her chin on her shoulder.
Nicely done, I commed. Very subtle.
He’s cute. I guess, she admitted.
Very, I agreed. You should go say hello.
Why would I do that?
I snorted, pretending to cough when the Kravaxians turned toward the sound.
Crew party after the room clears out? I asked.
Obviously, she replied, scratching her chin so she could look at the handsome, blue-eyed bionic one more time.
I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe. Beside me, Freddie’s face reddened to some shade I could only describe as disastrous, and I wondered if either of us would make it out of this alive.
When the ball had dropped at midnight, and Marisia, Tano, and Axel had retreated unceremoniously to their suites, I’d raced to meet up with Freddie so I could say a reluctant farewell to my favorite Argosian. An Argosian who was currently squeezing us half to death.
Tapping on the purple pectoral my face was currently pressed against, I wheezed, “Garran, put us down. Please.”
“I am just so happy,” he cried, squeezing me even more tightly in his right arm, crushing Freddie in his left, lifting us both a solid foot off the floor before finally letting us go.
“Thank you,” I managed, rubbing at my chest as sweet, blessed air made its way back into my lungs.
“You are together,” Garran said, all smiles as he looked from me to Freddie and back again. “You are worthy of each other. You fit.” The words were simple, but from him, they meant the worlds.
“Are you sure you have to leave so soon?” Freddie asked, rolling his shoulders, stretching his neck from side to side. “We have an excellent physician aboard this ship for Kasa’s mother. Dr. Semson is second to none.”
Garran nodded, his tattooed head gleaming in the glow from the overhead lights. “I am sure he is very good. But Kasa and I have plans”—stealing a glance at the airlock where Kasa carried her mother’s bags toward the docking port, he lowered his voice—“for making things official.”
“Official?” I squealed. “Really?”
“Shh.” He put a finger to his lips. “Her mother does not know yet. She still does not like me.”
His face returning to its normal shade of handsome, Freddie said, “No worries, big guy. She’ll come around.”
“Do you think?”
“Of course she will,” I said. “Because you’re Garran the Brave. Garran the Verdant. You’re Garran”—I sniffled—“our friend.”
While I nestled into Freddie’s side, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and told Garran, “This ship simply won’t be the same without you.”
“You two should come visit Argos.” Glancing down at his enormous feet, Garran suggested, “Maybe when Kasa and I are joined.”
Even though my chest still ached from the first time, I threw myself into his arms again and said, “Just try to keep us away.”
“Is it always this hard?” Freddie asked while we watched Garran and Kasa’s shuttle push back from the airlock. “Saying goodbye to the guests? ”
“No.” I ran a knuckle under my eye. “Garran was one in a million. Like a special piece of hay in a haystack.”
Freddie’s head swiveled toward me, his lips flattening. “Where did you hear that expression?”
I shrugged. “Some New Earth American guest, I think. Why?”
“Well, if I may, I’m not sure you’re using it correctly. That particular saying is actually ‘like a needle in a haystack.’”
Frowning back at him, I said, “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would there be a needle in a stack of hay?”
“Hmm,” he murmured, considering. “I’ve never thought about it that way. Why would there be a needle in a haystack?”
I slid my arm around his waist. “Don’t ask me.”
“Baffling nature of the expression aside,” he went on while the lights from Garran’s shuttle flared then vanished as it jumped away from the ship, “it’s used to point out how difficult it would be to find a certain thing or person. As hard as finding a single needle hidden in a haystack. For your purpose, to borrow another New Earth colloquialism, you might say something along the lines of ‘they broke the mold when they made him.’”
I didn’t get to see him playing his role of Languages and Customs expert very often, let alone benefit from it. His kind, patient competence was, unsurprisingly, a major turn-on.
“That’s exactly what I meant,” I said, wrapping my fingers around his tie and tugging him into a kiss.
After a lengthy make-out session that may have gotten a little bit sloppy, Freddie and I walked back toward the party, but I split off to the bathroom because I really had to pee. I’d just started pulling my jumpsuit back up when Tig’s voice invaded my mind.
It’s not what we thought, she commed, frantic. I read it more closely. I missed it before. I can’t believe I missed it.
Slow down, darling, I commed back, hauling my straps over my shoulders. Missed what?
The senator’s proposition. It’s in the fine print. The funding requested is for deep-space exploration, but only for companies with fewer than twenty-thousand employees. And there’s an attached provision to close tax loopholes and more tightly regulate corporate monopolies. Sunny, if this passes, it’s an extremely expensive slap in LunaCorp’s face.
Why would Sonia want this to pass? Dread shot down my spine. Nobody in their right mind would go up against LunaCorp like this.
It’s not just her, Tig said. Five other senators helped draft this proposition. Their aim was to support smaller businesses, increase competition, and provide more diverse opportunities for their planets—with a special focus on asteroid mining.
I hissed a curse. LunaCorp had cornered the market on asteroid mining since the Asteroid Belt Wars. It was the key to their wealth and continued chokehold on nearly every industry in existence. With the proposition, the senator had just made herself, her family, and now my ship, targets for the largest and most ruthless corporate monopoly in the entire KU.
And it’s all over the KU news. One of those senators’ wives and two of their children have gone missing.
What do you mean ‘missing’? My feet moved before I had a chance to question them, propelling me from the bathroom, toward the elevators, my hand slamming over the up button.
Missing. Like, gone. And the security breaches, Tig continued at a breakneck pace while I jumped into the elevator, making it climb. I finally found them. They didn’t come from Vorp or Gorbulon-7. They came from Kravax, Sunny. Kravax!
Where is she? I commed, bursting out of the elevator and racing toward the Ramesh suite. Where is Sonia?
She wasn’t at the party?
Rounding the corner, I slid to a stop at the sight of the twins’ security mechs—now disabled heaps of metal on the floor outside of their suite. “Oh gods,” I rasped, sprinting to their door, banging frantically, bruising my hand. Nobody answered.
Rax! Morgath! I shouted over a shared comm. Override the security lock on the senator’s suite.
What’s happening? Rax demanded as the lock disengaged.
The door slid open, and the ground dropped out beneath me. A bomb had gone off in their suite. Tables overturned, glass shattered on the floor, the couch tipped onto its side. Seeming to rise above my own body, I watched someone who looked just like me run to Sai’s bedroom. His bed was empty, his closet empty, his bathroom empty. “Sai,” I called out, spinning in a circle, checking under his bead. “Are you here? Are you hiding? It’s me.” My voice cracked. “It’s Sunny.”
He wasn’t here.
White light crowded my vision, a sob wrenching itself from my chest as I staggered to the back bedroom, whispering, “No. No, no, no. Please no,” with every step. Their door was open. Their light was on .
Stars save us .
Code white! Code white! I bellowed over the comm, kneeling beside their bed where Sonia and Lena lay sprawled on their backs, their eyes closed, mouths open, not moving. Disable all airlocks. Lock all docking bays. The senator and her wife are down. The boy is missing. It’s the FFKs!
I fucking knew it, Morgath growled.
Not now, Morgath, I snapped while pressing my fingertips over the pulse point in Sonia’s wrist.
Is the senator alive? Rax asked.
A steady heartbeat thrummed underneath my fingers. Yes. Reaching across the bed, I felt for Lena’s pulse. Her wife as well. But they’re out. Drugged? Pulling back the blanket covering them as carefully as I could, uncovering the red-tipped darts sticking out of Sonia’s right thigh and Lena’s left hip, I ground out, Paresis darts.
Get the fuck out of there, Rax barked. I’m on my way.
Opening the all-crew emergency comm, Tig said on a separate channel.
Sitrep, Captain Jones ordered, his commanding voice rumbling between my ears.
Once Rax arrived, I ran from the senator’s suite, listening to Tig and Morgath bring the captains, as well as the rest of the crew, up to speed.
Where are the Kravaxians? Freddie asked, his smooth, calm voice in my head making me stumble on my way back to the elevators.
They all left their suites about fifteen minutes ago, Tig said. All…but Reya.
Is she with you? I asked, reaching the elevator bank, pushing the down button, waiting .
She left a few minutes ago. She said she had to use the bathroom. You don’t think she’s with them, do you?
Maybe not, I commed, my throat cinching tight as a knot as I pushed the button three more times. But we can’t take any chances. You need to lock the door. Morgath, go get Tig. Don’t send mechs. They’re disabling them. Hurry.
On it, he growled.
Captain Jones took control, barking out orders over the all-crew comm, but on a private line, Tig’s ID blinked.
I can see them on the monitors, Sunny, she commed in a pained whisper as I stepped into the elevator, my finger hovering over the button for the main deck. Airlock B-4. They have the boy. And…Reya is with them. Why is she with them? Why is she doing this?
Slamming my hand over the button for the docking bay instead, I commed, Morgath is headed your way. Don’t worry.
Don’t let the twins kill her, Tig pleaded. She’s a good being. I know she’s a good being. She has to be a good?—
I clicked off the comm before I accidentally admitted that if Reya had a hand in harming Sai in any way, I’d kill her myself.
Rejoining the all-crew comm while the elevator doors slid open again, I shouted, Disable airlock B-4! They have the senator’s son!
Do not engage, Captain Jones boomed. Sunny, do you copy? Do not engage. Help is on the way.
But when I heard Sai’s panicked voice echo down the hallway to the B-gate airlocks, Garran himself couldn’t have kept me away.
I can’t disable B-4, Tig cried. It’s been disconnected from our mainframe and password protected with a suicide sequence. If I try to disable it manually, it’ll blow. All other airlocks and docking ports are on lockdown.
Enable exterior mechs, Captain Jones ordered.
No! I bellowed. They have the boy. Do not fire on them.
What are you doing, Sunny? It was Freddie. He’d found me on a private comm. Where are you going?
I’m sorry. I can’t let them take him. I can’t.
Sweetheart, stop. Please. You’re unarmed. His next words, uttered in a broken, desperate plea, were a sledgehammer to my chest. Please don’t leave me too.
I didn’t want to leave him. I had no idea what was about to happen. I might never see him again, speak to him again, hold him again. The thought was unbearable. But I’d lived with the unbearable for years. And if I could save another mother, or mothers, from ever having to live with it too, I’d go to the ends of the Known Universe to do it. Even though my heart was breaking, I had a chance, a chance I hadn’t been given five years ago. I only hoped he would understand. I love you. I love you so much, Freddie. And I’m so sorry, but I can’t lose another boy. I clicked off the comm, wiped my tears away, and sprinted for airlock B-4.