Chapter Nine
Ava
She’d been confined to her quarters.
The order had come through from the Captain.
Nema had even been reassigned to a new room.
No one had explained a thing.
Worse. Hunter, after promising to fix everything – after staring her right in the eye and giving her hope – hadn’t come to see her again.
It had been over 24 hours now.
She’d never felt so alone. Even in the forever-dark tunnels of the Avixan temples, she hadn’t felt this way.
Because now she knew what it felt like to be free.
She sat in the corner of her room, back pressed up against the wall, left arm locked around her knees as she considered her right armlet with a morose expression.
… She shouldn’t have come here.
As another pang of guilt and sorrow crossed through her gut, she moved to push a hand over her eyes.
She stopped.
Her hand tensed, her fingers curling in together tightly and stabbing hard into her palms.
She wasn’t meant to be weak. Goddammit, she was a priestess of Avixa.
She shouldn’t be pressed against the wall in her quarters, dejectedly staring at her hands.
But what could she do?
Try to break out of her room, and she’d be sent to the brig.
All she could do was sit here and wait.
For what, she didn’t know.
…
Lieutenant Hunter McClane
Diplomat Tarka was seconds from arrival.
He stood nervously just outside of the arrival hatch.
He paced, boots practically skidding across the floor as he switched direction and paced the other way once more.
It was a testament to Harvey’s trust in his brother that he’d allow Hunter this important role.
That, or right now Hunter was the only person Harvey could trust with this – the only person who knew just how screwed this Avixan problem had become.
A light above the hatch flashed blue, and a sonorous beep echoed through the corridor.
He found himself gulping, swallowing for air, fighting against his dried and constricted throat.
He stood back just as the door opened.
Out walked an Avixan male.
It was the first Hunter had seen. All the other Avixans of the Coalition were female.
The man was tall, handsome, even by human standards. He had broad shoulders, a muscled chest, and the kind of body that bristled with power.
Unlike Avixans females, he didn’t appear to have any hair. Just a smooth bald skull tattooed with intricate black lines that ran all the way down the back of his neck and disappeared behind his stiff dark blue collar.
He was wearing a pin affixed on the left breast of his tunic.
He suddenly flattened a hand over it, locked one foot in front of the other, and bowed low.
“It’s good to meet you, Diplomat Tarka,” Hunter began.
“I must correct you. I am not Diplomat Tarka. She could not make it. I am Aide Phar.”
Hunter tried to keep the surprise from his face. “We weren’t informed of this change.”
“No. You weren’t. Because it is irrelevant. Now, where is your Captain?”
The man was direct and officious, but he also looked nervous. His moves pressured, quick.
Hunter’s stomach sank. After hearing about the possibility of civil disturbance on Avixa, he’d hoped the intel had been wrong.
Everything with Ava and Meva aside, Hunter knew just how important Avixa was to the Coalition.
Especially now.
It wasn’t just the rebuilder incident several years ago, or the recent Axira incident. It was the general mood of the Milky Way.
It felt as if events were quickening somehow, arcing up, building toward some calamity.
He stifled the thought as soon as it struck him, pushing it away as he offered the aide a low nod. “I will lead you to the Captain.”
“Incorrect. You will lead the Captain to me.” With that, the aide turned sharply on his bare foot and began walking down the corridor.
Hunter balked, pushing off and jogging up to him. “Sir, I’m here to direct you through the ship.”
“I already know where I’m going.”
“Excuse me?”
“I am only here for one purpose. I will fulfill that and return to my people. We cannot be away at a time like this,” he added in a low distracted tone.
Hunter kept pace beside the man, even though he walked so quickly and with such a large stride Hunter practically had to jog to keep up. “Where are you going?”
“I believe you know her as Ensign Ava,” the aide replied as he kept marching forward, the stiff flaps of his tunic jerking hard around his legs.
Hunter’s stomach sank as a quick flighty feeling pulsed through his heart. “Ava? Why?”
“I cannot discuss that. However, you will have your captain meet me there.”
“Why?”
“Because Ensign Ava is no longer a member of the Coalition. She will return with me to Avixa.”
Hunter’s heart constricted. “She hasn’t done anything wrong,” he blurted before he knew what he was saying.
Though the aide had been largely ignoring him before, now the man stiffly swung his neck to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Of what do you speak?”
Hunter’s heart quickened, his fingers growing sweaty as he clamped them into fists behind his back.
He should just keep his mouth shut. One wrong word and he could condemn Ava. Yet he couldn’t just ignore this.
It was so wrong.
… If, indeed, this aide was here to extradite Ava for her so-called crime. Perhaps Harvey was right, and she was just a spy who was being recalled due to the instability on her home world.
Hunter had to make a decision, didn’t he?
Who to trust.
His brother, his goddamn captain, or an ensign he’d met barely a few days ago.
His body seemed to make his mind up for him as his heart beat harder and harder and his breath became shorter and shorter.
The aide slowed down his frantic pace and arched his neck to the side, locking Hunter in his full attention. “Has Ava shared information with you?”
Hunter recoiled. “No,” he snapped immediately, “It’s nothing like that. I barely know her,” he lied. Or maybe it was true, he couldn’t quite tell. Sure, it had only been a couple of days, but the intensity of their handful of experiences was enough to trick his mind into thinking he’d known her forever. His heart too. “She hasn’t told me anything. I just… assumed from your actions.”
The man held his gaze but said nothing. Then he pushed into a purposeful march once more.
“You can go and get your Captain. I have already familiarized myself with the route.”
Hunter ground his teeth together. “With all due respect, sir, no.”
If Harvey had been here, he would have winced, probably clapped Hunter in restraints. Harvey wasn’t here, and it was time for one of them to do the right thing.
The man inclined his head toward Hunter again, that direct gaze of his like a pulse from a laser. “Excuse me?”
“It is against Coalition policy to allow a visitor aboard a Coalition warship unrestricted access to systems.”
“Avixa is a member state of the Coalition.”
“It sure is, sir. However, you yourself are not a member of the Coalition army. I’m afraid wherever you go, I will go with you.” Though everything Hunter had told him to look down, to be non-aggressive, not to stare this guy right in the eye, he ignored reason. He dipped his head back, angled his chin out, and didn’t blink once.
The aide looked as if he wanted to complain, but he also looked as if he didn’t have the time. He pared his stiff lips back from his clenched teeth and nodded. “Very well,” he breathed hard. “But hurry.”
Why? Why was this guy in so much of a hurry?
> And why did it make Hunter’s heart beat at one million miles an hour? So fast he was sure the muscle tore itself free from his rib cage and shot through the hull into outer space.
…
Captain Harvey McClane
He couldn’t deny his nerves. They raced up his back, lodged hard into his skull, felt like knives tracing a cruel pattern over his back and stomach.
As he sat in his command seat, he rested his chin on one clenched fist, his knuckles so white it looked as if all the blood had drained from his hand.
“Diplomat Tarka has arrived,” Shera said needlessly.
He caught sight of her expression as she spoke. Her head was tilted back, that regal angle to her neck he loved so much accentuating the curve to her chest and the dip of her back.
She looked expectant. Excited. As if she couldn’t wait to meet this Diplomat Tarka.
Harvey had tried to broach the subject of civil instability with her, but she had, as always, told him she couldn’t say a word. He knew not to push her about her people.
Now that curiosity burned within his gut as bright as a flare on a dark night. It climbed higher and higher as if it wanted to engulf every muscle and sinew, and burn right out of his mouth.
Hunter, in his usual ineloquent brutal style, had done what Harvey couldn’t. He’d set Harvey’s priorities straight.
Hunter was right. Harvey couldn’t keep making assumptions. He had to find out more about the Avixans, whether they liked it or not.
With five aboard his ship and civil disturbances on their planet, this was a risk. That’s why he’d confined Ensign Ava to quarters.
Did she deserve it? Was he sure she was the bad apple amongst this group?
… He was 90% sure. And it was enough for him.
He pushed to his feet, letting his tensed hand fall beside his leg.
He watched Shera glance down and note it. Then she made brief eye contact with him. He imagined she said a lot with that. She’d be telling him to calm down, to get a hold of himself.
This was just a simple diplomatic visit, right?
“Shouldn’t Tarka have arrived on the bridge by now?” Shera suddenly questioned.
At that exact moment, Harvey got a direct call from his brother.
Almost immediately Harvey’s stomach started to sink as he brought a hand up and tapped his wrist device. “Yes?”
“Change of plans. Aide Phar doesn’t want to meet you on the bridge…. He’s meeting you in Ensign Ava’s quarters.”
Harvey knew he paled. He knew he lost all control of his expression as he took a sharp step forward. “What? What’s—”
Before he could finish his question, Shera interrupted, pressing forward, her eyes growing wide. “Where is Diplomat Tarka?” she asked in a snapped, curt tone.
Hunter paused. “… Captain?”
Harvey cleared his throat. “Answer the Lieutenant Commander. Where is the diplomat?”
“I don’t know, apparently there was a change of plans. This Aide Phar is here instead. Is that a problem?”
Shera took an uncomfortable breath. Out of the corner of Harvey’s eye, he saw her shift back, her shoulders jutting forward, her chin jutting down.
“Shera?” Harvey asked in a low tone.
“I assume I am speaking to Captain Harvey McClane,” a resonant deep male voice suddenly cut over the intercom. “I am Aide Phar. I do not have the luxury of time. If you wish to know why I am here instead of Diplomat Tarka, then you will meet me at Ensign Ava’s quarters.”
The transmission suddenly cut out.
All eyes on the bridge turned to Harvey.
Of course they did. It wasn’t every day that some random aide snapped at a captain.
Today wasn’t an ordinary day, and this situation had just taken another inexplicable turn.
Harvey found himself swallowing hard as he shifted on his foot.
Shera darted in front of him, heading toward the lifts.
He frowned. “Lieutenant Commander, you’re in charge of the bridge.”
She hesitated. “I have a… personal matter to attend to. It is of… cultural importance.”
Harvey hesitated. “You also have a duty. Your personal matter can wait.”
She turned from him, darted toward the lift, opened it, and walked inside. “It can’t,” she said as the doors sliced closed in front of her face.
Harvey stood there, shock palling his features.
Had Shera just ignored a direct order?
He cut her slack wherever he could. But he couldn’t ignore this. She’d disobeyed a direct order in front of all the bridge crew.
Clenching his teeth hard, his heart sank. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, shaking his head, he cleared his throat. “Contact Commander Hutchins,” he ordered no one in particular, “Get her to replace the Lieutenant Commander on the bridge. And inform… Commander Hutchins… what happened here,” he finally pushed his words out, every one snagging in his throat like fingernails catching along skin.
Shera was his partner. He honestly loved her.
But he had a duty.
So he walked forward into the lift.
…
Lieutenant Hunter McClane
His heart battled around in his chest. He could honestly feel it as it beat against every tensed muscle.
Aide Phar walked quicker and quicker, his movements jerky, snapped, almost frantic.
What the hell was happening here?
They reached B Block.
The closer they came to Ava’s quarters, the more Hunter’s mind rang.
Finally, they arrived.
Phar let out a visible breath, his tensed chest sucking in. “Lieutenant, open this door,” he demanded.
“We need to ask Ava’s permission to enter.”
“Open the door, Lieutenant,” his voice arced with tension.
Hunter’s fingers drew into a fist. Knowing he wouldn’t win this, he leaned past Phar and typed the override code into the panel next to the door.
The door opened.
The lights were turned off in her room, it was completely dark. But as the doors opened, the light from the corridor swept in and revealed Ava in the center of her room, seated on the floor, knees drawn up to her chest, head nestled between them.
She brought a hand up to her eyes and turned toward the open door, blinking at the sudden illumination.
Then her hand dropped, she sucked in a choked breath and jolted backward as if she was expecting to be struck.
He lurched forward, hand outstretched, fingers spreading toward her. “Ava? Are you alright?”
“You wait outside, Lieutenant,” Phar snapped as he strode into the room.
Hunter was standing in the doorway, and as long as he continued standing there, the doors would not close.
He wasn’t going to move a muscle.
Phar twisted his sinewy neck around and stared at Hunter, brows pressing hard into his dark gaze. “Lieutenant, wait outside.”
Like hell.
He didn’t give a damn about the Avixans and what they meant to the Coalition.
He wasn’t going to leave her alone.
“Lieutenant—”
“Stay exactly where you are,” someone said.
Harvey.
He came striding down the corridor and walked purposefully into the room.
“Captain, you and your Lieutenant will wait outside. Once I’m done here, Ensign Ava will be leaving this ship with me. She is no longer a member of the Coalition Army. And as such, you have no authority over her or myself.”
Harvey didn’t react. He did bring his arms up slowly and cross them. “Don’t tell me what to do on my ship.”
Phar bristled, a smattering of blue flecks charging up his cheeks. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“Like I said, this is my ship. It has everything to do with me. Any business you have with one of my ensigns, you have with me. Now you’re going to answer my questions—”
&n
bsp; “You would threaten the treaty with Avixa? Your behavior is unacceptable, Captain. When the Coalition convinced Avixa to join its fold, we made it explicit that you are not to intrude in our society. So turn away, walk out that door, and stop intruding.”
“Like hell I’ll stop intruding. Like I said, any business you have with a member of my crew, you have with me. Now step out of these quarters.”
Ava hadn’t moved a muscle. She remained exactly where she was on the floor, limbs locked forward, tensed hands pressed against the soft cream carpet, head locked down, her hair forming a veil over her face.
It honestly felt like Hunter’s heart wanted to push from his chest and reach out to her.
His heart couldn’t. But he could.
He lurched into the room, got on one knee, and offered her a hand. “It’s okay.”
She wouldn’t look at him.
“Stop interfering,” Phar snapped. “We don’t have time.”
“What’s the rush?” Harvey growled.
“This is an internal matter, do not interfere,” Phar snapped so vehemently it was a surprise spittle didn’t fly from his mouth.
“If you intervene in the security of this ship or directly threaten any member of my crew, including myself, I have every power to lock you in my brig. Just give me one more reason,” Harvey warned, voice so low it was barely more than a rumble.
Phar took a jerked step back, lips crunching hard against his teeth. Then he jerked his head down to Ava. “Stand up. We will return to my ship. Sovereign Avixa land,” he emphasized with a hiss as he looked at the Captain.
“You don’t have to do what he says—” Hunter tried.
Ava ignored him. She picked herself up. She was visibly shaking. Her hair trembled as it half covered her face. He saw enough to see how fearful she was.
It was worlds and worlds away from the strong unflappable ensign he’d met several days before.
“Ensign, he’s right, you don’t have to leave—”
“Come,” Phar snapped.
Ava took a step forward. She wouldn’t look at Hunter.
“Ava.” He stood right in her way. He ducked his head down, trying to get her to look at him. “Ava, you don’t have to do what this guy says.”
“Lieutenant, get out of our way,” Phar growled.
Ava still wouldn’t look at Hunter. Instead, she walked around him toward the door.
Hunter snapped his head around, fear and anger curling his blood. “Harvey, do something,” he bellowed.
Harvey looked just as angry as Hunter did.
But it was also clear he wasn’t going to intervene. “There’s nothing we can do,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Like hell there is, you just gonna stand there and let him kidnap her?”
Harvey wouldn’t answer.
At that exact moment, Shera and Meva bolted around the corridor.
Shera looked incensed.
Then she took one look at Phar, her gaze slipping down to the pin on his left breast, and she stopped dead.
“Lieutenant Commander, what are you doing here?” Harvey snapped.
Seconds before she’d looked ready to tear someone limb from limb, but now as she straightened and slowly strolled forward, you couldn’t deny the glint of satisfaction in her eye. “I’m sorry, Captain, there was some confusion.”
Hunter couldn’t be sure, but it looked as if Phar gave Shera a meaningful look.
“What kind of confusion?” Harvey snapped.
“I apologize, Captain,” Phar said, the anger that had once rung through his tone like thunder now slipping away to be replaced by calm diplomacy, “You may not understand this interaction, because you do not understand Avixan people. Ava has committed a grave crime,” his voice dropped so low it was barely audible, “The Lieutenant Commander here was no doubt coming to see that the criminal will be dealt with in correspondence with our cultural laws. And I can assure the Lieutenant Commander that she will.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Harvey barked.
“What is going on, is I am extraditing Ava. As I have full right to do under the treaty. She has committed an unforgivable crime and must be brought to justice,” Phar spoke easily now, most of his tension gone, as if he was comforted by something.
And the only thing he could be comforted by was Shera’s presence.
If Hunter had thought he couldn’t bristle any further, he was wrong. Every single hair along his body stood on end as nerves pulsed through his skin.
He looked at Harvey.
This was all down to Harvey now.
And Harvey… Fuck it, Harvey looked at Shera.
“It’s okay, Captain, you can trust me. You may not understand this, but trust me,” her voice shook with emotion, “It’s the right thing to do.”
Harvey paused.
“Right thing to do,” he repeated to himself.
Shera smiled. Encouragingly. Lovingly. The kind of smile that would set anybody at ease. “Just trust me,” she said once more.
Hunter looked right at his brother.
He waited, waited for Harvey to either save Ava or condemn her.
If he condemned her – chose to let the Avixans take her away – then goddammit, Hunter knew what he would have to do.
“Trust,” Harvey repeated once more, this time his voice firmer, more resonant. He turned on his boot and faced Ava. “As captain of this vessel, I can and will offer you asylum. If you are fleeing an unjust system, the Coalition will give you safe harbor. All you have to do is say the word.” As Harvey spoke, Hunter could tell how hard it was for him, how much every word hurt.
Harvey wasn’t like Hunter. Hunter could throw a relationship away and bounce back. Harvey… Harvey was as loyal as they came.
And yet he was still doing the right thing.
Shera bristled. Blue dots exploded up her cheeks, pushing high into her brow. “What are you doing?” she said through clenched teeth.
“I’m using my prerogative as a captain. Lieutenant Commander, you are no longer needed here. You and Lieutenant Meva will return to your quarters.” Harvey punched his chest out as he spoke, brought his head back, and stared right into Shera’s eyes.
“I don’t have time for this,” Phar practically roared. “Ava, you will follow,” he barked, treating Ava like a disobedient dog.
Ava hadn’t breathed a word, hadn’t moved a muscle. She just stood there, dead gaze locked on the floor.
He’d never seen someone look more lost.
“Ava, the Captain is offering you safe harbor. Take it. I don’t know what’s going on here,” Hunter’s voice broke, “But we’ll keep you safe.”
She looked up at him briefly. In that moment it felt as if he could see right through her eyes and deep into her soul.
Then she closed her eyes. “Sorry, Hunter.”
Harvey took a strong step forward. “Ensign, we can and will keep you safe. If you’re worried about retribution from your government, just hang tight. Who knows what the result of the civil disturbance on Avixa will bring.”
Ava froze. With tiny, almost fractured movements, she shifted her head up, her mouth parting wide. “Civil disturbance?” her voice was barely audible.
The intensity of her reaction sent nerves jamming down Hunter’s gut, and he could bet it had a similar effect on Harvey as he swallowed hard.
“Weren’t you aware? If recent reports are correct, Avixa is on the brink of a civil war,” Harvey said.
Ava didn’t just look shocked. She looked shattered. As if her worldview suddenly twisted around, fell at her feet, and crumbled to dust.
Then something else dropped. She clearly realized something as she jerked back and stared with wide eyes at Phar and Shera. “What’s going on here? Who do you represent? Captain,” she jerked her head toward Harvey, her hair spilling around her shoulders, “I have to make a call to Avixa. I have to find out what’s going on.”
“What’s going on, Ensign?” Harvey snapped.
/>
“You may not be able to trust these people—” Ava began.
“Do something,” Phar bellowed at Shera.
So Shera did. She snapped toward Ava.
But she didn’t reach her.
Harvey suddenly barreled into her side, wrapping his arms around her middle.
He couldn’t fight against her innate strength and pull her to her knees, but his move was enough to surprise her.
And to give Hunter an opportunity.
He wrapped an arm around Ava’s middle and tugged her backward, the both of them falling through her quarter doors. “Computer, lock the doors and call security. Call security. The Captain’s been attacked.”
The doors slammed closed before Phar could throw himself in, a heavy blue force field flickering in place before them.
Ava sat for a single second, eyes rimmed with white as she stared at the door in utter shock.
“Ava?”
She punched to her feet. “I need to call the Avixan government, now.”
“What’s going on? Ava, what’s happening?” He jerked up to his feet.
She wouldn’t look at him. Her chest was pushed out at a tense angle, her neck twisted to the side, her eyes still as wide as moons.
“Ava?” He lurched over to her side and settled a hand on her shoulder.
“They want this ship,” she said, realization cracking over her once terrified face like ice melt breaking up a glacier.
“What?!”
“Shera’s after this ship.”
“Why?”
Ava turned to him. The terror was gone from her expression now, replaced with a quiet kind of shock.
It was clear she was weighing up the costs of telling him something.
He took a determined step forward and ducked his head down. “Ava, you can’t keep us in the dark. We have to know what’s going on. My brother is—”
“He’ll be fine. She won’t hurt him. She’ll need his command codes.”
“Ava, what’s happening?” he couldn’t control his voice anymore. It slammed out of his throat and rattled through the room. “Why did Shera try to kill you?”
“… Because I can stop her. But first I have to get in contact with my government. I don’t have the privileges to make an off-ship call without a superior’s approval.” She turned to him and faced him in full. “Hunter, you have to patch me through to my government.”
He took a breath. It settled high in his throat, incapable of descending down into his lungs, as if someone had stuffed a rag down there.
“… Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
This wasn’t a time to be playing with ultimatums. He could see how desperate Ava was.
And yet, the lies had to stop.
Now.
Maybe she understood his determination as she stood there, because she closed her eyes, tipped her head down, and took a breath. “We’re monsters.”
“What?”
“The Avixan people are monsters. We are extremely powerful beings. Many eons ago, we used this to our advantage. This… what I’m about to tell you, is the greatest crime an Avixan can commit. I’d be killed for this. But… you’re right – the lies have to stop.”
His stomach sank at her admission.
“Long ago, the Avixan people….”
…
Captain Harvey McClean
He didn’t stand a chance against Shera. A fact she proved when she latched a hand on his shoulder, yanked him back, and slammed him against the floor.
He hit the metal with such force his breath punched out of his throat in an echoing choke.
The situation was happening so fast. He couldn’t keep up. And yet, he knew one thing.
She was about to kill him.
Shera stood over him for a single second, her ice white hair catching the lights from above.
Harvey didn’t wince.
Nor did he look away.
He waited for the final blow.
It didn’t come.
Shera twisted her head back toward the doors. “Meva, get those open.”
Harvey opened his mouth to say something.
Instantly, with speed that could rival a cruiser at light speed, Shera jerked backward and slammed a foot over his throat. She didn’t kick down and cut off his air supply, but the threat was there.
“Don’t say a word, Harvey. I know you can command-lock those doors. Try it, and I’ll be forced to intervene. Now,” Shera twisted her head back to Meva, “Get those goddamn doors open.”
Meva’s fingers flew over the access panel, but to no avail.
The doors were now security locked.
So was the whole ship.
The truth was, he didn’t need to give the command. His current situation was enough.
The Mandalay was trialing a new command security system to ensure situations just like this – mutinies and insubordinations – couldn’t happen.
Harvey’s body was constantly being scanned by his WD, which was in constant connection to the main computer. As soon as his WD picked up significant physical distress combined with threats to his life, it acted to lock out command controls. It was more than sophisticated enough to recognize Shera’s voice, what she’d said, and, most importantly, that she was trying to crush his windpipe.
So Harvey smiled.
It caught her attention.
Shera’s lip stiffened, twitched up, and she slowly pulled her boot off his throat. “What have you done?”
“You’re already locked out,” Harvey deliberately let his voice drop as low and menacing as he could. “Security would be on their way. Coalition Command would have been called. Shera, Meva, give up,” he enunciated those two words – give up – with all the clarity he could muster.
Shera looked livid, then sneered through a smile. “I doubt the Coalition have been called, dear – we took communications down before we got here. As for security – let them come. And as for your command codes,” she got down on her haunches, resting one elbow on her knee as she tipped her head to the side and considered him, “That’s unfortunate. But I can work around it. Watch: Captain Harvey McClean, if you want your crew to live, open that door.” She extended a stiff finger toward Ava’s door.
Harvey didn’t move a muscle. “You’re in no position to give me an ultimatum, Shera.”
“I could crush your windpipe with a single twitch of my hand.” She extended a hand and gently rested it on his throat. “I call that the exact position to make an ultimatum. Now open the damn door.”
“Why?”
Her lips twitched into a tortured smile. “Because I have unfinished business with the priestess.”
“Who?”
“Never you mind. Now open the door.”
“Whatever you’re doing won’t work. Just stop and think about this,” he tried. He wasn’t attempting to get Shera to see reason. One look in her eyes and he knew it was a lost cause.
What he was doing, was wasting time to buy Ava a chance.
All Harvey had to do was hold on until security got here.
“I have thought about this, Harvey. I’ve thought about nothing else my entire life. And believe it or not, I’m doing this for the Coalition. I’m doing this for us. For the future.”
There was something about the fanatical note in her voice that told him she wasn’t lying.
“… What are you talking about?”
“The Avixans can no longer be held back from our true power. We can no longer be shackled.” With that, Shera brought up a hand, latched it around her ceremonial band, then threw it off. She grabbed the one on her other wrist and did the same.
They both clanged onto the floor by his face.
He looked down at them for a single instant before returning his gaze to her.
“Stop wasting time,” Phar snapped. “We have to secure this ship. The priestess can wait. She’s trapped anyway. With communications down, there’s nothing she can do.”
Shera slowly shifted her hea
d toward Phar, her ice-white bun slicing across her neck. “Do not give me orders. This is my operation.”
“Then complete it. We must take the Mandalay. Do not let this man distract you. The priestess can wait. There’s nothing she can do.”
Shera gave an angry shout that echoed down the corridor, then she snapped to her feet. She shot Phar a deadly look before turning and stalking forward. “Fine. Secure that door. I don’t care what you have to do – make sure it can’t be opened. Meva, bring the Captain. Phar, find a nice quiet corner and sit this out,” she said snidely as she stalked past.
His ship. They were after Harvey’s ship.
On any other day, with any other ship, there’d be no way a handful of crew would be able to take over a vessel of this size. But the Mandalay had been plagued since the day he’d stepped aboard. Now, as Meva grabbed him up, he realized something. The problems that had dogged his ship may not have been accidents.
The cause was likely striding off down the hall, her ceremonial armbands at his feet.
He’d brought Shera aboard this ship – deliberately asked for her to be transferred.
So he’d stop her.
No matter the costs.
…
Ava
There was only one thing she could do.
Tell him the truth.
All of it.
She didn’t know if she had time, but that wasn’t the point – she had to buy his trust.
She took a breath. “Long ago, the Avixan people—”
She heard something slam into the door. Though the door was noise proof, she saw the panel dent inwards.
Hunter jerked back, latching a hand on her shoulder and pulling her with him.
“What was that?” She kept her gaze locked on the doors, expecting them to explode inward at any moment. Though academically she knew that the shields should hold them in place, she also knew exactly how much Shera wanted to end this.
Now Ava understood everything.
Every so-called accident.
They were all attempts to kill Ava and get her out of the way so… what? What exactly was Shera’s end game? Did it have something to do with the civil instability Captain McClane had mentioned?
If Avixa really was on the brink of civil war, why the hell hadn’t Ava been told?
There was so much about this situation she didn’t understand.
There was one thing she did understand.
Shera was determined to kill her.
Ava curled her hands into fists, letting the nails dig so deep into her palms, she excavated half-moon cuts.
She didn’t have Shera’s power, but Ava would still fight.
Not because it was her duty as a priestess, but because this wasn’t right.
She expected the doors to fail at any second, but abruptly the banging stopped.
Hunter let out a sharp breath. “The shields will hold them back. They keep pounding on that door, the shields will just get stronger. Don’t worry, security will make it here soon.”
She didn’t respond.
“Ava, what were you saying?”
“That if I don’t call my government right now, this ship will fall.”
“What?” he spluttered.
“I guarantee you the other Avixans will be working with Shera. This… would have been planned from the beginning. Every accident – the lifts, the neuro gel… god, even that trader in the bar, it was all Shera,” she realized, her cheeks palling.
“What?”
“Just let me access the off-ship communications… though I doubt they’ll work.” She paled even further.
“What?”
“Just do it… please.”
Hunter took a hard breath and appeared to make a decision. “Computer, give Ensign Ava permission to access off-ship communications—”
“All communications are offline,” the computer replied at once.
“What? How?”
“All communications are offline,” the computer repeated without explanation.
“Has security been notified? Does command know—”
“All communications are offline.”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” he roared.
She reached out and latched a hand gently on his arm. “It won’t work. Shera’s been planning this since the day she got onboard.”
“Planning what? Ava, what the hell is going on?” his desperation reached such a shaking pitch she couldn’t ignore it anymore.
“Shera’s trying to take this ship.”
“What’s that got to do with you? And why do you need to contact your government? What do you possibly think they can do?”
“She wants to kill me because she thinks I can stop her. And if I could contact my government, I’d be able to.” She tried to stop herself, but her gaze naturally locked on her armlets.
He followed the movements of her eyes. “What are those?”
“Locks.”
“Wh—”
A red alert suddenly cut him short. It blared through the room, the illumination cutting to half as a strip of red lights lit up along the ceiling.
“Computer, what’s going on?” Hunter demanded.
The computer didn’t reply.
“Computer?” he repeated once more.
Nothing.
“Christ. We have to find out what’s going on. We have to get out of here.” Hunter looked warily at the door.
“We go through that door, they’ll kill us,” Ava stated with total certainty.
Hunter brought up a hand and locked it on his mouth. At the same time, his gaze darted quickly from the left to the right as he surveyed her room.
Her room was small, plain. Though there was a bathroom and some furniture, that was it.
She didn’t have any weapons, no equipment. Nothing they’d need to break out of here.
Hunter’s searching gaze suddenly locked on the floor. “What’s under your bed?”
“Ah, what?”
“I think this room’s over the aft ventilation system. There could be an access under your bed.” He lurched down to his knees and shuffled toward her bed.
“How do you know that?”
“Because, Ensign Ava, I’ve spent the last several days crawling through every service duct, ventilation shaft, and bloody nook and cranny of this ship. I’ve stared at enough maps trying to figure out how to get us to safety that I’ve started to learn the interior of this ship. And, if I’m not much mistaken,” he shuffled fully under the bed, “There’s a vent here.”
She heard a metal clang as Hunter rapped his knuckles on something.
“Give me a hand moving the bed.” He shuffled back out.
“It’s bolted to the floor.”
He swore as he shifted back and rested on his haunches. He brought up a hand, wiped the sweat from his brow, and cast another worried glance toward the doors.
As soon as he was done, he pushed forward, locked a hand under the bottom of the bed, and checked the bolts. “… We could remove these with the right tool.”
“I don’t have an engineering kit in my room.”
He leaned back and began casting around again.
“Come on, Ava, there has to be something around here,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “Anything that could get those bolts off. Come on, we’re running out of time,” true desperation punched through his words. It crumpled his brow, drawing the rumpled skin hard against his eyebrows.
Her stomach crawled with anger, compassion, guilt.
And above all else, shock.
She had no idea how any of this could happen.
How could Avixa fall into civil war? Who would dare drive something like that?
… To think, she’d come to the Coalition to get away. To finally find a place where her origins didn’t matter.
Now she was arm deep in this.
Instinctively, she brought her arms up and stared at her armlets.
Hunter caught her doing it again. He lurched to his feet
and grabbed her shoulders, staring right into her eyes. “I don’t know what’s happening here. I guess I don’t have time to find out, but, Ava, we have to act now. If you’re right, and Shera’s been planning this from the beginning, we may be the only two on this ship who can do anything about this.”
She looked up into his eyes. His gaze was so strong, so determined. It summed up Lieutenant Hunter McClane’s personality perfectly.
She found herself swallowing, a cold dense feeling wending through her stomach.
She didn’t have to search her memory too far to realize what it was – responsibility.
“Come on.” He let his hand slip down her shoulder until he grabbed her hand.
At first, she had no idea what he was doing, then he pushed her toward the bathroom. “Look for anything that can get those bolts off. Come on, hurry. Everyone’s counting on us.”
It was his tone that did it.
She finally found the strength to push past the confusion.
She darted into her bathroom, her keen gaze scanning over every surface.
Though she desperately searched for some kind of tool, her gaze did return to her armlets once or twice.
… If she could find some way to get them off, she could end this. Right now.
“Ava, come on,” Hunter called from the other room as if he could tell she was getting distracted.
She sucked in a rattling breath and pushed herself into the task again.
That’s when she saw it. The light fitting.
There should be a magnetic anchor lock behind it. Her gaze jerked over to the control panel by the bathroom door that adjusted water, humidity, and heat. If she was right, she could pull out selected pieces of it, cobble them together with the mag lock from the light, and produce a tool to burn through the bolts.
“Ava, come on,” Hunter called once more, voice somehow pitching with even more desperation.
“Hunter, get in here,” she snapped.
He practically skidded as he threw himself into the room. “What is it?”
“I need to clamber up onto your shoulders and reach the light.”
Surprisingly, he didn’t ask what she was thinking. He jerked forward, skidded down to one knee, and brought his arms up. “Come on.”
She nodded hard and pushed toward him, clambering onto his back.
He wrapped his strong arms around her legs, anchoring her in place.
She couldn’t allow herself to be distracted by the hard press of his shoulder muscles and back against her front. She pressed her lips together, locked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and reached toward the roof.
He held her steady, showing his considerable strength, especially for a human.
“Hold steady,” she warned needlessly as she pressed her fingers either side of the light switch.
“And watch yourself,” he added immediately. “Pull out the wrong wire, and you could electrocute yourself.”
She ignored him, pushed one hand harder into the wall to stabilize herself, sucked in a calming breath, and started to unscrew the light fitting. The little grating scratch the mechanism gave echoed through the room, the only sound apart from Hunter’s regulated, controlled breathing.
Finally, the light fitting came undone in her fingers. She cast it to the side, and it fell against the far wall with a crack.
She gently pressed her fingers into the hole it had left, careful not to brush up against any exposed wires.
“Slowly,” he warned.
The particular low pitch of his tone shook up her legs and into her belly.
Finally, she clasped the mag lock. She yanked it out. “Got it.”
“Atta girl.” He shifted back, walking to the side until they reached a wall.
Ava pushed a hand into it for balance as Hunter slowly crunched down to his knees.
She jumped off, legs tingling from where there’d been in contact with his shoulders and arms.
She ignored the pleasant sensation as she pushed toward the room controls.
Hunter got there first.
He clearly knew what she was planning.
He used his superior strength to rip the panel off the wall and root around in the controls beneath.
Soon he pulled out exactly what they need. He proffered a hand, and she gave him the mag lock.
She saw a peculiar kind of smile spread across his stiff lips as he took it from her. Briefly, he darted his gaze up. “You’re pretty smart, Ava.”
His words – or, more importantly, the way he looked at her – sent a shiver darting through her gut.
She didn’t have time to consider it as she watched Hunter work frantically. He walked back into the main room and faced the doors, gaze darting up to check on the integrity of the shields every few seconds. She could easily make out the beads of sweat collecting over his brow and down the side of his neck.
She waited in pressured silence until he was done.
With a soft “Whoop,” he stood back and revealed the makeshift tool, a true grin cutting his face in half. “Come on.” He didn’t waste any time in ducking down to his knees and shifting toward her bed. “You keep the bed steady,” he said as he started to burn a hole right through the bolts keeping it locked against the hull.
“Got it,” she said as she jumped onto the bed, reasoning her weight would be a more significant force than her strength.
She caught him grinning at her again. Though it was nervous, it was also….
“One down,” he said triumphantly as he moved to the next leg. “We can do this,” he added softly under his breath. “Come on, we can do this.”
She watched him as he worked. She couldn’t tear her eyes away.
His body was rigid with tension, his gaze locked on the bed legs without blinking.
… He really was a determined man, perhaps the most determined man she’d ever met. True, he had anger. And as his previous treatment of her evidenced, that anger wasn’t always justified.
But now he was doing the right thing – now he was busting a gut trying to save this ship.
Trying to save her.
Something swelled in her gut. A prickly kind of heat that climbed deep into the center of her chest.
She brought a hand up and locked it on her front.
He caught sight of her movement and jerked his head up. “You okay?” he asked in a truly worried tone.
She smiled. It was a genuine move, pushed on by the warmth growing in her chest.
No one had ever sacrificed for her like Hunter was now doing. The priestesses, though a close-knit group, were not tender.
Could not love.
As soon as that word sprang into her mind, she pushed it away with a shiver. “Just nervous,” she lied.
“Don’t worry, Ava,” he said as he darted around on his hands and knees and scooted to the other side of the bed, “We will do this. The ship can count on us.”
That statement caught her attention – especially the expression that swamped his face as he said it. Despite the fact his brow was covered in sweat and his head ducked down at an angle as he concentrated, she could still see the way he looked.
Confused, unsure.
… She suddenly realized there was more, much more to the mysterious Hunter McClean than she’d once thought.
Before she could delve too deeply into that thought, he punched to his feet, an enormous grin spreading over his face. He leaned a hand out to her, legs pushing into the side of her bed.
She stared up into his eyes, pausing before she reached out a hand and took his.
She didn’t know why she paused.
Her stomach clenched and a tingly feeling raced up her back.
She sucked in a breath, tucked her hand in his, and let him pull her off the bed.
Instantly, he latched onto the bed and shoved it forward, revealing the hatch.
He proffered a hand toward it. “After you.”
“No, after you. I’m small enough that I’ll be able to pull the be
d back over the hatch. It might buy us a couple of seconds before they realize how we escaped.”
He nodded hard. “Do it.” He got down to his knees, latched a hand around the hatch, and pulled it up.
Instantly cold vent air met them.
She heard him groan quietly.
She smiled and waited for him to jump into the vent, then she got down on her hands and knees and joined him.
She maneuvered the bed as close to the vent as she could. She reached an arm out, locked a hand on one of the bed legs, and used whatever strength she had to yank the bed back over the vent.
It hurt, especially with her fragile wrists. But she ignored the pain and did what she could.
When she was done, she jumped from the tiny ladder that led to the bottom of the shaft and met Hunter’s gaze.
He nodded at her. “Okay. We’ve got to get to engineering. We have to figure out what they’ve done to the coms system. If we can get off a distress call, the Coalition will send help.”
She nodded. “Got it.”
He turned, gaze locking on her wrists for a single second before he let his shoulders deflate in a defeated breath. “I’m sorry about this, Ava.”
“It’s okay.”
They pushed on.
In truth, it was easy to ignore the pain radiating up from her wrists. It was easy, because her mind was at war.
Every question she’d pushed back in her room came spiraling into her consciousness like bullets from a cruiser. They blasted away at her gray matter until a cracking headache spread through her skull.
… She just couldn’t understand how things could have gotten so bad on her home world.
A few times Hunter glanced over his shoulder as he looked at her. “It’ll be okay, Ava. Everything will work out.”
There he went again, trying to comfort her. It seemed that Lieutenant Hunter McClane had many faces.
… Then again, so did she. If he knew her real identity, would he be treating her like this? Or would he be justifiably angry that she’d let things get so far?
She should have raised her concerns about Shera and Meva’s behavior earlier. She should have called her government.
Then again, perhaps they wouldn’t have responded.
That Aide Phar had clearly been working with Shera. Which meant this issue was much, much larger than Ava had assumed.
She let out a tortured sigh.
“What is it?” he turned over his shoulder and locked his searching gaze on her. “It’s okay, Ava, you can tell me. I won’t tell a soul.”
His offer was tempting. God, what she wouldn’t give for someone to unload on.
Though these five years in the Coalition had been some of the most treasured of her life, she’d still felt detached from her friends and the crew around her.
They would never truly understand her, because she would never truly be able to tell them who she was….
“I understand it must be hard for you. But you’ve got to tell me what you can. We need to understand why Shera and Meva did this….”
She looked up. He’d twisted his head back around, so she could no longer see his gaze. She could make out his body language easily, though.
The defeat pushing through his tensed shoulders, the lost angle to his neck and back.
She sucked in a sudden breath as she realized something.
She’d heard from a few other crew members that Hunter was involved with Meva.
… And she’d just tried to take over the ship.
“Hunter, I mean, Lieutenant, I’m so sorry. This must be so hard for you.”
“You’re right – I have to hold onto the hope that Shera won’t do anything to Harvey. She’ll need his codes.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant… I meant Meva. I don’t mean to bring up your personal affairs, but I….”
He turned right over his shoulder to look at her, even drew to a slow pace. He swallowed. She watched his Adam’s apple bob against the tight collar of his uniform.
“I’m sorry.” She repeated as she dropped her gaze. She couldn’t be sure, but she half felt that statement pertained to more than his loss.
It pertained to hers as well.
However subtly, she was starting to have feelings for Hunter McClane. At least her body was. She wasn’t a fool – she couldn’t ignore the tingles that raced across her flesh and deep into her chest whenever they touched.
But the tingles were misplaced.
He suddenly laughed. It wasn’t miserable or tortured. “There’s nothing to be sorry about,” he appeared to speak honestly.
“I… thought you were… ah, with…” she couldn’t push it out. Despite her burning curiosity, it was extremely inappropriate to have this kind of conversation with a superior.
“With Meva? Yeah, for a while,” he answered casually. “We broke up. Before she mutinied and tried to take over the ship,” he added with a dark look. “So there’s nothing you need to be sorry about, Ava. In fact,” he darted his keen gaze back up as he locked her in it, “The only person who should be sorry about anything is me. I let Meva affect me. She convinced me you were a monster. Said you belonged to a higher social strata, said your people oppressed her people for years. I shouldn’t have believed her. I should have asked for your side of the story. Heck, if I’d done that, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation now,” he said with a tortured laugh.
“… She’s right,” Ava found herself saying.
Hunter stiffened. “What are you saying?”
“I do come from a higher social strata… in a way. And my people did oppress her people… in a manner of speaking.” She had no idea why she was saying this. All reason, all training, all tradition told her to stop, sew her lips shut, and never speak of this again.
Even in the half-light of the tunnel she saw his cheeks pale and slacken as his bright blue eyes widened. “Ava,” her name caught on his breath, “What are you talking about?”
“My people are responsible for watching Meva and her kind. They are powerful warriors, Hunter, capable of good, but capable of evil too….”
“Before, in your room, you were about to tell me something. What? You said… you said if you told me you could get killed. If that’s… if that’s true, Ava, I don’t want you—”
“My people are devils,” she blurted. She paused after the words rocketed from her throat. Then she closed her eyes and continued. “Many thousands of years ago, we ruled over vast sections of the Milky Way with an iron fist. We stole, we murdered, we captured other races and forced them into slavery. We even destroyed whole cultures. We were true barbarians. Then they came, showed us the error of our ways, and we changed.”
He shivered. She could see the move as it shook from the tip of his head down to his legs. “What? Who… who are they?”
“That I don’t know. It was so long ago that all that remains in Avixan history is tradition. And you must understand, tradition is everything to our people. They – the outsiders – showed us the error of our ways. Told us that if we didn’t change, we would be killed. So we did. The most powerful of the Avixans became priestesses charged with supervising the rest. It became a grave crime in Avixan society to wield your power against an outsider – our term for any non-Avixan entity.” The words pushed from her throat and there was nothing she could do to stay them.
Despite how wrong she knew it was to share the greatest secret of her race, it felt right. It felt like a weight was lifting from her shoulders.
Hunter watched her with keen attention, never blinking, never twisting his head around as he continued to crawl a few steps in front of her.
She couldn’t quite face him. As she recounted her tale, she looked over his shoulder and locked her gaze on the end of the tunnel. The panels were made of a mismatch of silver and brown metal, a few loops and bands of wiring and pipes running alongside them, a strip of tiny lights running at even intervals along the ceiling. Below, the bottom of the vent shaft had a grating, presumably
to stop Coalition boots from slipping against any condensation that built up in the cold vent.
As she crawled, the grating dug into her hands, pushing even more pain and pressure up into her wrists. Every movement ached, sending jolting pain twisting high into her shoulders and slicing across her collar bone.
She hid the true extent of her injuries from Hunter.
But that was the only thing she was prepared to hide anymore.
Everything else had to come out.
She took a steeling breath, half closed her eyes, and continued. “For thousands of years, the priestesses watched over the Avixans. If any Avixan – including a priestess – acted against our sacred treaty, they would be punished.” She brought up her locks. “These can be used to bind an Avixan’s powers. They can also be used to send an Avixan into stasis.”
Hunter didn’t breathe a word. He never turned from her, either. He was so engrossed in what she was saying, he didn’t even notice when they reached a closed shaft door. He banged right into it, couched, twisted around, and opened it. “Keep going,” he said in a low voice as they made it through the shaft door.
“For thousands of years, this is how Avixan society was controlled. But in the last several hundred years, democracy came to the fore. The priestess clan slipped into the background as the Avixan government became strong enough to enforce its own rules. Tradition was still strong amongst our people. We had been living with the treaty for so many thousands of years, that it was part of every Avixan’s soul.” She jerked her head down and stared at her armlets as she thought that.
It was a line right out of her training. A line the chief priestess would repeat to every initiate.
No Avixan would dare to break the treaty in this day and age.
“… It’s okay, Ava. If you don’t want to tell me any more, you don’t have to.”
His kind soft words were enough to see her dart her gaze up. She knew she couldn’t control her expression. She knew her brows pushed high into her hairline, her cheeks weakening as her lips dropped open.
He smiled ever so softly at her move. “I won’t push you. If it’s too dangerous for you to tell me—”
“No,” she blurted, “I want to tell you everything. I have to tell someone. I’ve been running from this my whole life. I can’t… I can’t run from it anymore. I left Avixa to get away from this history. To get away from my duty. And now it’s back.”
He watched her out of the corner of his eye but didn’t say anything more than a soft, “It’s okay.”
His words sent a pleasant warmth pushing through her chest. It struck a chord in her heart and started to wash away the cold dread that had built there.
She took another breath. “… This, what Shera and the other Avixans did, isn’t meant to be possible. Every Avixan knows the danger of returning to our old ways. Not only is it abhorrent, wrong, evil,” her voice choked on that word, “But it will break the treaty.”
“… What’s this treaty?”
“The outsiders who came and made us change our ways, they gave us an ultimatum. Completely alter our culture, or die.”
He shivered again. Then he took a sharp breath. “Do you have any idea who these outsiders are? I mean, what period of history are we talking about? Could we figure it out?”
“I don’t know those details, Hunter. I’m sorry. You have to understand that Avixan society has been steeped in myths… and lies, for thousands upon thousands of years.”
At first, he looked away, then his brow crumpled as he darted his gaze back. “Do you even know if these so-called outsiders exist?”
She didn’t react. Couldn’t.
Though the statement might have seemed simple and innocent to him, it wasn’t to her. It cut right to her core. She may not have been as traditional as most other priestesses, but there were facts even she couldn’t push way.
Her culture, her training, her whole identity was engrossed in that one tradition.
Maybe he couldn’t catch the true extent of her shock, because he continued, “Couldn’t it just be that Avixan society naturally realized how brutal it had become, and changed its ways? Perhaps, over the eons, this myth has built to explain what was really a natural process. Because, even though the Coalition doesn’t know a great deal about the sector Avixa occupies and even less about their history, I couldn’t think of a possible race strong enough to lay down an ultimatum like that.” He turned to her when he realized she wasn’t saying anything. “Ava, what do you think?”
“I’m not sure,” she forced herself to answer, though her voice was shaking. “… It’s just, you have to understand that we believe this. All Avixans believe that there was a treaty. They believe that if we break it… we’ll die.”
Hunter looked at her steadily. “I understand, Ava, I don’t mean to cause you offense. I just think it’s pretty clear the other Avixans onboard don’t believe that anymore. Or they wouldn’t be doing this. We need to figure out what they do believe.”
He had a point. Though it pained her to agree, she nodded her head.
“So, what do we do? You said these priestesses can help. Is that who you were trying to contact on Avixa?”
She nodded her head slowly, not making eye contact.
She could tell him she was a priestess – she should tell him. But she couldn’t push the words out. They clogged in her throat like detritus blocking off a drain.
There was no point getting his hopes up. There was no point getting hers up either.
Shera would know exactly what would happen if Ava got the chance to contact Avixa. And Shera was going to do everything – absolutely everything – to stop Ava.
Hunter and the other crew might have a chance.
If Ava used herself as a distraction.
The thought snaked into Ava’s mind subtly at first, collecting at the edges of her consciousness like a dark fog pooling thick over a bay.
She found herself taking a shaking, rattling breath that sent a dense cold pressure pushing hard into her chest.
Hunter darted his gaze over to her once more. “What is it? What are you thinking?” he asked perceptively.
She chose not to answer. “We have to find some way to stop them. I wasn’t lying when I said Avixans are devils. Before the treaty, we thought nothing of killing outsiders. We were true monsters,” she said in a shaking tone that felt like it could tear her throat in two, “To us, other life forms were nothing more than dirt. I don’t know if Shera thinks like that yet, but it’s a possibility. We were always taught that if we began to embrace our power again, it would be an inevitable slide back into evil. There’s something innate about our abilities – if not kept in check – that leads to that type of thinking,” she managed through a truly tortured breath.
This – what she was telling him now – was the heaviest weight she’d ever carried. The truth about her people was one thing, an academic thing. She was young, and couldn’t really be responsible for what her brutal foremothers had done eons upon eons ago.
She could and would be responsible for herself.
She had grown up with every priestess telling her that if she ever lost her locks – if she was ever forced to embrace her powers – she would turn evil. She would forget the sanctity of life. She would gather and destroy, plunder and pillage, all for herself.
She took such a shudder, her palms jerked hard into the grating, and she actually cut herself.
It was just a light gaze, but the small spatter of red was enough to get Hunter’s attention. He shifted toward her quickly, tenderly grabbed up her hand, and wiped away the blood with the cuff of his sleeve. Then he looked right into her eyes. He was close enough that she could see how light and pale his irises were.
His direct gaze stilled her. Anchored her. It plucked her from her thoughts and brought her back to him.
“Okay, Ava, what do we do? If we can’t contact your people or get to the Coalition, how do we fight Shera and Meva?”
Ava considered his quest
ion. Again her thoughts slipped back to one fact: she could easily buy him a distraction if she offered herself to Shera.
She’d seen Shera’s hate. Meva’s too. Every Avixan onboard wanted Ava dead. They would lose reason, opportunity, even sense for the opportunity to kill her.
Ava was never going to be a great priestess, but perhaps she’d be an okay sacrifice she realized with another terrible shiver.
Suddenly Hunter’s gaze narrowed, hard, like his eyes were going to be sucked to the back of his skull. “What are you thinking?” his voice was suspicious, but before she could be worried that he’d question whether she was going to turn into a monster, he stopped, pushed forward, locked a hand on her shoulder, ducked his head down, and looked up into her eyes. “Ava, whatever you’re thinking, don’t do anything rash. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself just to buy us a chance.”
She couldn’t contain her shock as her brows pushed hard into her hairline and she sucked in a surprised breath. “How did you… how did you know what I was thinking?”
His lips crinkled up into a half smile. “I’m starting to get to know you, Ava.”
With that opaque statement, he ducked his head down once more until his face drew level with hers. He looked right into her eyes with such intensity it was a surprise he didn’t start a fire. “You aren’t going to do anything like that. And that’s an order. There will be a way to save this ship, and everyone onboard,” he added as he nodded at her. “Trust me. I may not be the best lieutenant in the fleet, and hell, I certainly haven’t been to you, but I will do this.”
Though confusion, shame, and fear pulsed hard through her heart, her lips smiled of their own accord.
When she was around him, her body acted without need for direction. It did things before her mind had a chance to catch up.
She took a breath and opened her mouth to tell him she’d follow his order, but a crackle echoed from somewhere above.
Though the vents were a utility system, they still had access to the ship-wide audio, in case engineers needed to be notified of an urgent message.
Right now the audio crackled and hummed before a single recognizable voice boomed out. “This is Lieutenant Commander Shera. I am currently in charge of the Mandalay. If you don’t want the crew to be harmed, you will come to the bridge.”
She stiffened. So did Hunter. His hand was still locked on her shoulder, and now he pushed it in a little harder, his fingers collecting against the fabric as if he was trying to hold onto her.
He sucked in a hard breath that punched his chest out, and he twisted his head hard to the side. “Shit.”
“Ava. You will come to the bridge. Or the blood of this crew will be on your hands.” With that, Shera’s strident booming voice cut out.
For a second Ava did nothing. She caught Hunter’s terrified gaze and held onto it as if it could somehow offer her solace. Protection. An escape.
But there was no escape.
She squeezed her eyes closed and squeezed them tight as Hunter swore again.
“You can’t go to the bridge,” he said in a shaking voice, “She’ll kill you.”
“Yes,” Ava agreed in a dull tone, “But if I don’t, she’ll kill the crew.”
“I don’t want to believe that….”
“It’s true Hunter. You may not believe everything I told you about my people, but believe this – if an Avixan forgets the treaty, if they embrace their true power, there’s nothing they won’t do to get what they want.”
He looked away, then looked back at her, all the while his cheeks palling to the color of crushed bone. With a stiff breath that echoed through their closed confines, he pushed back on his haunches, still keeping a hand locked on her shoulder despite the uncomfortable angle. “… Ava, I can’t see you die. There’s got to be something we can do—”
“Time is ticking, Ava. Either you come, or we kill.”
An electric jolt of fear shot up Ava’s spine. She jerked back, breaking Hunter’s grip, his hand falling down to the grating and striking it with a dull thud.
“Ava—”
“We have to go. No, I have to go. Hunter, use the opportunity to do something. I’ll… I’ll distract them for a while. Get to the communications system. Make a call. Call the Coalition. Call the Avixans. Tell them what’s happening.”
“Ava, no.”
“Hunter, there’s no other way,” she said in a quiet, almost still voice. It was as if her thoughts had turned to stone as a cold frozen feeling marched up her back and sank into the base of her head. “I won’t let her kill this crew.”
He looked at her, desperation making his gaze shift as his mouth jutted open wide.
She took another shuffling step backward. “I saw an exit panel back there. I’ll take it. I imagine the minute I reach the corridor, they’ll take me to the bridge.”
“They’ll kill you—”
“No… I think Shera will want that particular pleasure.”
“There’s got to be another way.”
“Hunter, there is. You need to use this distraction to get off a message. Please.”
His face twisted in pain as if she’d just stabbed something through his heart.
He jerked back, unbalancing as he slammed a hand out and caught the wall. He was breathing hard, the spasmodic movements of his chest crumpling the once smooth fabric of his trim uniform.
She didn’t give him another opportunity to tell her to stay. She turned and headed for the nearest exit.
“Ava, please,” he called down the vent, his voice echoing and booming out.
She squeezed her eyes shut, reached the vent controls, and pushed herself out.
She exited onto the floor of some random quarters.
She pulled herself up. Locked the vent, and headed toward the door.
She’d already discarded her WD in the vents after Hunter had insisted on destroying them. With the shoddy internal sensors of the Mandalay, his hope was that Shera wouldn’t be able to track them.
As Ava walked cautiously down the hall, she confirmed his suspicion. No Avixan came spinning around the corner – meaning the internal sensors hadn’t picked her up.
As she walked, she curled her hands into fists.
Her fingers drove so hard into her palms she felt as if she could push them all the way through to the other side.
She shifted her head down, staring forward under her brows and the low cut of her fringe.
She locked her jaw together, grinding her teeth hard, pushing the tension deep into her neck and chest until it felt as if every muscle in her body was ready to snap.
Her steps pounded out, echoing one after the other like a resounding drum.
There were no crew around. She had no idea where they’d be, but it was clear Shera had cleared out the halls and rooms. Perhaps she’d locked them all in the mess hall or cargo bays.
Shera knew what she was doing.
There was no way out of this.
Despite her determined stride, Ava’s thoughts exploded as she walked. Her life flashed before her eyes. Though she’d only spent five years with the Coalition, and only a few days on the Mandalay, it was her time aboard that filled her awareness. She saw flashes of her friends, of Hunter.
She reached the end of the quarter's block.
She reached a lift.
She didn’t even hesitate. She jammed a thumb into the panel and the doors opened with a barely audible hiss.
She walked inside, shoes slapping against the echoing metal floor.
Shera could have rigged these lifts to fall.
But Ava knew Shera wouldn’t give up the pleasure of killing Ava with her own hands.
So Ava’s heart didn’t even flutter as the lift shot toward the bridge.
A few seconds later, it arrived.
It pinged.
She had a single second to stare at the closed doors.
Then they opened.
She walked out onto the bridge.
Thankfully, some
of the crew were still there. The Captain, Commander Hutchins, and most of the other essential crew necessary to pilot the ship.
They were down on their knees, ankles locked with mag cuffs, and hands pinned behind their heads with restraints.
They all watched her as she walked into the room.
Their expressions were terrified, but none more so than the Captain. His eyes were so wide it looked as if he’d split his face in two. “Ensign—”
Shera didn’t let him finish. She walked up to Ava, a satisfied smile spreading the Lieutenant Commander’s lips.
Shera tipped her head to the side, her now loose ice-white hair trailing over her shoulder.
With her head still tipped to the side she walked all the way up to Ava.
Ava stopped in the center of the room as Shera circled her.
Ava didn’t bother making eye contact. Instead, she tipped her head back and stared first at the Captain, then across at the view screens.
They still showed space outside.
Freedom. The same freedom that had opened her heart over these last five years.
She took a shaking breath.
“Shera, whatever you’re planning, don’t do it,” the Captain snapped, words stringing together in desperation.
Shera smiled so hard her lips cut hard against her nose. “I would have thought what I was planning was obvious. It’s time for the Avixan people to obtain their freedom. Get on your knees,” she mouthed to Ava.
Ava complied. She even brought her hands around and clamped them on the back of her head.
She settled her gaze on the view screen.
She watched space.
The universe. Just outside. All those stars, constellations, planets, civilizations.
All waiting to be explored. All that space, all that freedom. It reached deep into her heart and beckoned her forward.
But there was no more time.
This was it.
She felt Shera move behind her.
Maybe Ava should have closed her eyes. Maybe it would make death easier.
She didn’t, because it wouldn’t.
The only thing that could drive back her soul-crushing fear, the only thing that could keep the tears at bay, was that view.
“I’m going to cut your arms off one by one, little priestess,” Shera shifted forward and slotted her face alongside Ava’s. “Hopefully you’ll live long enough to feel the pain.”
Ava didn’t respond. She shifted her head back, lifted her chin, and she stared at that view, letting it pull her away and out of her body, ready to claim her soul once she died.
Shera shifted back hard, a burst of air buffeting against Ava’s neck.
This was it.
… But the final blow never came.
She heard a clang, and something dropped from above.
Something heavy, something that screamed.
She jerked to her feet and shifted to the side just in time to see Hunter spring on top of Shera from an open vent hatch.
… He’d clearly made it all the way to the bridge.
Not the communications system.
The bridge.
To save Ava.
Though Shera was surprised, it didn’t last. Meva came from nowhere, rounded her shoulder, and knocked into Hunter’s side.
She had a blade in her hand.
Not a sacred sword made of her own energy – only a priestess could produce one of those. Meva was holding a special version of an electrified blade standard in the Coalition inventory. It was powered by Meva’s own energy, though.
And it was deadly.
She shifted back for a single second.
“Kill him,” Shera snapped.
Hunter had a massive gash in his brow, blood spilling down his face and covering his eyes. But he saw as Meva tipped back, brought the sword around, and swung it toward his throat.
Ava’s heart stopped.
So did time.
Somehow she pushed past her limitations, somehow she drew deep inside herself and accessed her true speed. She threw herself at Hunter.
Just as Meva’s blade struck.
Ava twisted her right arm up and around, protecting Hunter’s face.
The blade struck it, a burst of electricity slamming into her armlet.
“Kill them both,” Shera snapped. “Now.”
Ava was thrown backward into Hunter. He wrapped his arms around her as they banged hard into the command seat.
Then Meva took a step toward them, her sword swinging close to her hip as her lips curled into a cruel smile.
Hunter’s fingers stiffened around Ava.
Ava brought her arm up once more, wincing, finally closing her eyes. Not against her death, but Hunter’s.
It didn’t come.
As Meva took another step forward, something unclicked and fell against the floor.
Ava opened her eyes just in time to see her right armlet disengage and drop to the floor by her feet.
….
Meva and Shera stopped. Dead.
So did Ava.
Her eyes bolted open as she expected a lethal electric shock to pulse through her body and fry her brain.
When it didn’t happen, she realized one thing.
She was free.
Meva jerked backward.
She wasn’t fast enough.
Ava sprang toward her, using every ounce of speed and strength she had.
Power – pure energy surged through her. It leaped through her body like a dry pyre of wood introduced to its first flame.
And yet, the energy only touched one side of her body.
Her left side was virtually immobilized. It still possessed reduced strength and speed.
It wouldn’t matter.
In a pulsing heartbeat, Ava formed a sacred sword, a burst of bright purple light forming right from her hand as she twisted it forward.
Meva was terrified. Though Ava moved like the speed of light, Meva had just enough time for a scream to crack from her lips.
Ava sliced her sword around. It cut right through Meva’s blade and sent it spinning over the floor until it struck the far wall and lodged a foot into the pylon.
Meva fell to her side, jerking one hand up in defense.
“What’s going on?” she heard the Captain scream.
“How did you get those off?” Shera screamed, her pitch so desperate it sounded like the screech of a bird being strangled. She stumbled back across the bridge, fear locking her limbs in place as her white face became so ashen she resembled an alabaster statue.
“I think you broke it, Shera,” Ava said honestly as she tipped her head down and glared at Shera. “Now give up.”
“Never,” Shera screamed. She had a gun at her side. She snatched it up.
It was just a blaster.
Ava would be able to endure over a hundred shots before it could cut through her natural power.
She brought up her sword and parried a shot, sending it slamming into the far wall. “Just give up.”
“Never. You’ve taken from us. Made us small. We will never bow to your power again,” Shera shrieked.
Suddenly Meva moved.
She jerked toward Hunter, her boots moving so fast they scratched over the floor.
Ava jerked her head down just as Meva clutched the electro-knife from her hip holster and stabbed it toward him.
Ava dropped to her knees, grabbing Meva by the shoulder and jerking her back.
The electro blade spun out of Meva’s grip and lodged into Ava’s side.
Her left side.
… Her power should protect her. Her natural energy should rebuff the blade.
It didn’t.
The blade slammed into the soft flesh above her left hip, gouging a quick, bloody path toward her stomach.
She screamed, jerking backward as her blue blood splattered the floor.
At the same time, she threw Meva against the floor with the superior strength of her right arm.
Meva impact
ed the metal so badly her body dented the floor.
It wasn’t nearly enough to kill the Avixan warrior, just wind her.
Shera let out a shaking, choking laugh as Ava brought a hand up and stared at the blood spilling from her side.
Shera’s whooping laughter became louder. “Oh my god, it only works on half your body. The rest is still as soft as flesh,” she pressed her teeth together, her lips jerking around them as she hissed each word. “And you get the other lock off, can you, little priestess?”
Still laughing, she took a slow step toward Ava.
Ava’s mind spun. Blood spilled over the floor, a huge blue puddle forming at her feet.
“Ava, Ava!” Hunter called as he scrabbled to his feet.
Ava wasn’t down yet.
Just as Meva got to her feet and lurched toward Ava, Ava brought her right arm around, collected Meva hard on the chest, and threw her back on the floor.
Stars exploded through Ava’s vision, as the pain grew so all-encompassing it felt as if she would forget everything.
Meva pushed to her feet once more as Ava began to stagger.
“Just kill her now,” Shera spat from behind.
With a splitting scream, Meva moved toward Ava.
This time, Ava caught one of Meva’s wrists.
Unlike Shera, Meva was still wearing her ceremonial wrist locks.
A mistake.
As soon as Ava slammed her right hand around one, Meva skidded to a stop. Wobbling, a terrified scream split Meva’s throat as she staggered to her knees.
Great blue electrical arcs spun around Meva’s lock, sinking harder and harder into her skin.
“No,” Shera spat as she jerked toward Ava.
She didn’t get a chance to stop Ava – the Captain sprang to his feet, despite his magnetic cuffs, and he threw himself at Shera.
It bought Ava the time she needed.
With a click. Meva’s locks engaged fully.
Meva fell to the floor, in stasis.
The only way to wake her up would be with a priestess. And Ava had no intention of helping out.
It was time to stop this.
She spun to face Shera just as she threw the Captain to the side.
Shera’s expression was like shattered ice. So much cold hatred cascaded down her face it looked as if she’d lost all reason.
She took a rattling breath, her nostrils flaring wide as a smattering of cold blue flecks charged up her skin. Shera jerked toward Ava.
Ava could barely stand.
She’d lost too much blood.
Her mind… she couldn’t hold onto anything.
And yet she still stood.
She still faced Shera.
Ava brought her sacred blade around. It was starting to fizz and crackle as her power ebbed.
Shera sprang forward with her own electric blade, another awful cry splitting her lips.
Just as Ava feared she would lose consciousness, Hunter called out her name once more.
Her eyes snapped open, and she parried Shera’s blow. Slicing right through the Lieutenant Commander’s blade.
Shera fell on the floor, ice white hair slicing around her terror-filled eyes.
Ava could barely see.
But she knew what she had to do.
She brought her blade around.
Shera was wearing a pin on her left breast.
Just as Ava staggered, Shera slammed a hand onto it.
A transport beam sliced through the ship and locked on Shera.
Ava jerked forward, but she wasn’t quick enough.
Light exploded off Shera as she was broken down on the atomic level.
Ava had just enough time to stare into Shera’s hate filled gaze before Shera was transported away.
The computer suddenly beeped a warning. “Avixan diplomatic transport disengaging from the hull.”
Ava staggered from foot to foot.
Hunter punched to his feet and caught her just as she fell.
The darkness loomed in her mind.
It pushed at her every sense, submerging them under a numb sensation that crushed her from the inside out.
“Don’t die, Ava, don’t die. I’ve got you now. The Mandalay’s safe. You did it.”
You did it.
Those three words echoed in her mind as she lost consciousness, her head resting against Lieutenant Hunter McClane’s chest.
She had done it. The Mandalay was technically safe.
For now.
But neither she nor the Mandalay would stay that way for long.
A war had just begun, and Ava’s blood was the first to be spilled.
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