Atrophy (32 page)

They were led down a long passageway of doors marked with numbers. Old, faint memories surfaced of being taken to a similar place between transports on his way to Erebus.

In one of the deserted hallways, Cabell paused, ordering most of the agents to leave, except for the one holding Rian, and one closest to Zahli.

Tannin shared a nervous glance with Zahli, her own expression mirroring the thought of
what now?
shooting through his head.

Cabell pulled out a pulse pistol and held it casually, pointed down in front of himself, waiting until the hatchway had closed them all into the windowless passage. Tannin shifted closer to Zahli, though Cabell had his attention fixed solely on Rian.

“Major Captain Sherron. The golden-boy war hero.” Cabell’s voice held a deep tone of derisive apathy. “Mr. Niels wanted to make sure you understand the situation intimately.”

Cabell closed the half step between him and Rian, planting the nose of the gun directly in the middle of Rian’s chest.

“Sorry, but I’m not into any kind of kinky inter-species shite. Niels will have to find himself a new plaything.”

Cabell shoved the gun harder, an unpleasant smile yanking his lips upward, though his expression remained cold. “Think you’re funny, boy? You won’t be laughing once you’ve watched him take apart your crew and your sister, one cell at a time, until you’re the only one left. Sound familiar?”

Rian went still, cold, murderous fury sparking in his glinting gaze. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with, Cabell. Eventually I’ll get loose, and when I do, I will destroy
everything
.”

The words came out with such chilling finality, it was almost like Rian knew the outcome, could see into the future where there was nothing but death and destruction. All of it caused by him.

Cabell’s grin was almost amused. “You brought this on yourself. You should have handed over the Arynian priestess when you had the chance. Niels already knew there was an execute-on-sight decree out on you, only he didn’t know why. It wasn’t hard to get your lab file. Made for an entertaining read. And then Niels didn’t just want to kill you anymore, he wanted to flip that berserker inside you first. When he orchestrated this little reunion, he wanted to make sure you didn’t know which way was up. First your sister’s dead. Now she’s alive again. Whoops, dead after all. Her and the rest of your crew.”

Rian’s fists clenched where they were secured at the small of his back, but he otherwise didn’t move. “This is going to end messy, Cabell. You have my word on that.”

“You’re right. And damn, am I going to enjoy the splatter.” Cabell shot off a round, point blank into Rian’s chest. He went rigid, like getting electrocuted, then went down hard. Zahli cried out and started forward, but Tannin blocked her from getting any closer, even as the other agent nearby grabbed her, keeping her back.

One of the agents moved to open the hatchway. Cabell leaned down to grip Rian’s shirt at the shoulder and dragged him one-handed into the room. Zahli and he were shoved inside after the captain. The rest of the
Imojenna’s
crew sat or stood around the room, including Miriella and Nyah, all wearing similar expressions of apprehension.

Kira hurried over and knelt down next to Rian, her hands also secured behind her back. She leaned in to listen to Rian’s chest, but even as she did, the captain shifted. Tannin released a long pent-up breath. The pulse pistol had only been set to stun. Obviously killing Rian at this point would be premature to all those fun-filled plans of torture and death Niels had for them.

“Frecking bastards,” Rian muttered in a hoarse voice, rolling into an upright position and swaying a little until he got his balance. “And frecking goddamn Baden Niels! I’m going to slice his balls off…if the scum bastard even has any.”

“Because that’s really helping right now.” The last thing Tannin wanted was to turn Rian’s wrath on himself, but they had to do something. Work out a plan. He was not going back to Erebus. “We need to do something before they put us on a ship for Erebus.”

“They’re not going to take us to Erebus. Where we’re going, it’ll be a million times worse.” Rian took an audible breath, pushed to his feet with some difficulty, and turned to face them. “Callan, knife.”

Callan walked over and turned his back on Rian, who used both his cuffed hands to pull Callan’s shirt free. In between the thick leather weapon’s belt and his pants was a concealed sheath, from which Rian pulled a small but deadly looking blade. Rian cut Callan’s flexicuffs with a flick of his wrist then turned the knife on his own cuffs with nimble fingers. In a matter of moments, everyone had their hands free.

“Now what?” Callan asked as he took the blade and slipped it away. “As much as it’d be awesomely legendary, I don’t think it’s a good idea to take on an entire platoon of UAFA agents with a single small knife between us all.”

Rian didn’t get a chance to reply because the hatchway slid open. They closed ranks, with Rian standing in front of them.

A UAFA agent walked in, except
she
wasn’t like any of the other soldiers they’d encountered. Sable brown hair was pulled back in tight long, ponytail, while slate gray eyes took in the room in one second flat. She had the calm assurance of a leader as she clasped her hands behind her, with shoulders back and spine straight

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that a man of your reputation found a way to free everyone from their cuffs in the few minutes we left you alone, Captain Sherron. I don’t suppose you’d willingly hand over the knife?” Her voice was a little on the deep side for a woman.

“If you can find it, you’re welcome to it, babe.” Rian cocked his head, insolence in every line of his body, making Tannin want to roll his eyes. The guy was so full of it. He didn’t know how someone hadn’t shot him already for being a cocky sonuvabitch.

A small smile tugged the agent’s lips, but didn’t affect the rest of her cool features.

“Captain Sherron, considering your good standing within the IPC, I wanted to give you the chance to answer the charges Baden Niels has leveled against you before we leave.”

Rian glanced at Zahli, a gloating flash in his gaze. “Reputation still working.”

Zahli crossed her arms and made a point of ignoring him.

“Which allegation would you like me to address first?” Rian turned his attention back to the UAFA agent, taking a couple of steps closer to her. His gaze wandered over the woman, giving Tannin the unpleasant sense their captain was up to something. He swallowed a sigh.

Where were they all going to end up this time? Knowing Rian, whatever he had in mind probably consisted of only two elements: extreme risk and excessive violence.

Trying not to draw attention to himself, Tannin moved closer to Zahli. No matter what happened, his first impulse would be to protect her. Whatever occurred after that, he just had to hope Rian wasn’t as psychotic and suicidal as he seemed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

S
ometimes he was a damned lucky bastard.

Rian knew he’d be pushing said luck, but shot an insolent grin at the UAFA agent, one Mae Petros, ex-IPC officer and formerly under his command during the Assimilation Wars. He couldn’t believe she’d been appointed to this assignment, since he’d been thinking about her the other day. When he’d told Tannin he had someone in mind to look into whether or not Zander Graydon had been replaced by a Reidar, he’d been talking about her.

“So, which allegation do you want me to deny first?” he asked again, aware of the way her steady gaze didn’t waver.

One night, a long time ago, before the Reidar had taken him, they’d had a few too many drinks and spent a few too many hours making out on a couch in an officer’s lounge at an IPC waystation. If either of them could have gotten a room that night on the overcrowded military installation, they probably would have slept together. His old self had even entertained the notion of a relationship with her, back when he’d still thought things like that were possible.

Later, a year after he’d escaped from the Reidar, Mae and a team of IPC officers had nabbed him in a raid on an illegal trade depot working for Uzair. She’d kicked his ass and gotten him back into the IPC, gave him part of his life back. She had been the first one he’d ever told about what really lurked in the far reaches of the universe. Or maybe not so
far
. More like right under their noses. She’d hadn’t believed him at first, but over the years he’d managed to convince her, get her on his side. He hadn’t ever been able to give her proof, but his word held enough weight that she trusted everything he’d told her.

“How about we deal with the easy one. Stolen goods?” He could see the amusement she tried to hide as she answered his question. Yep, he’d be getting away from here, no problem.

Rian stopped between Mae and his crew, gesturing to Ella. “The stolen goods are standing right over there. Though I don’t know how Niels thought he’d get away with accusing me of that, with slave trade being illegal and all.”

“Is that true?” Mae focused her steady gray gaze on the priestess.

Ella nodded. “I was taken against my will from Aryn, yes. Captain Sherron was good enough to intervene on my behalf.”

Rian looked at Ella for a moment longer than he should have, too damned surprised that she’d addressed him as
captain
for once.

“And the intergalactic terrorism charge?” Mae’s question broke his attention from Ella and he cleared his throat as he faced the agent, finding himself off-balance around priestess at the stupidest times.

“Only if you calling hacking the data stream of Kasson Three an act of terrorism.”

Mae’s brow knitted with confusion. “Aside from the fact that unauthorized hacking of a data stream
is
considered intergalactic terrorism, why the heck would you bother with Kasson Three? I thought that old station would have been swallowed by the Zenith black hole by now.”

“It hasn’t, and we think it’s where the Reidar have based their offensive.” Rian caught the surprised looks from a few of the crew as Mae crossed her arms. He sighed. “If you idiots haven’t worked it out by now, Agent Mae Petros is a friend of mine. She served under my command during the war. She knows about
everything
.”

“Is there anyone in the galaxy who
isn’t
one of your old war buddies?” Zahli muttered.

“Offensive?” Mae repeated, saving him from saying anything to his sister. It seemed the spat between them would go on for a while. “You make it sound like they’re invading.”

“Because I think they are.” He caught the look of disbelief Zahli shot him and turned more fully away from his crew so he didn’t have to see it. Shite, everyone thought him more than half nuts, but couldn’t they see the bigger picture?

Mae sighed. “All right, you’ve had me believing for a long time now the Reidar exist, but don’t you think someone would have noticed if there were aliens invading our galaxy?”

“I don’t have time to explain, and as nice as this catch up has been, I’d really like to get my ass—and the collective asses of my crew—onto my ship and off this planet.”

“What do you expect me to do? I’m not the highest ranking agent. I can’t just let you pretend to knock me out and allow you waltz out of here.”

He shrugged. “Who said anything about
pretending
?”

Her slate eyes darkened to a stormy gray. “Don’t even think about hitting me, Sherron, or I’ll stalk you across the galaxy to get my own back. And you won’t like it.”

“I thought you said he wouldn’t ever hit a woman.” Tannin hadn’t bothered lowering his voice, and Rian glanced over his shoulder. His sister shoved her scumrat of a boyfriend in the shoulder, her own expression not so friendly.

Beyond the door, the sound of boot steps and voices echoed. Their time had run out.

“All right, kids, party’s over. Mae, when they take us out of this room, we’re going to escape. I don’t want you to do anything except
not
shoot us. And, I’ve got a favor to ask, so you’ll be hearing from me in the not-so-distant future.”

Mae nodded and stood at attention next to the hatchway.

Rian turned to the crew, his gaze landing on Ella, ignoring the way his pulse pounded and his blood heated in his veins. “It’s time you earned your place on the crew, princess.”

Z
ahli looked at Ella, like everyone else did, wondering what the frecking hell Rian had in mind.

Ella’s expression became annoyed and more than a little stubborn. “I told you, my training forbids me from—”

“Your goddamned training can sod off. Unless you want your pretty little ass handed on a platter to Baden Niels and his Reidar buddies, you’re going to work your mojo and help us the hell out of this room and back to the
Imojenna
.”

Ella crossed her arms, her posture obstinate. Zahli went to move closer to her, to offer some support, but Tannin wouldn’t let her leave his side.

Rian stalked closer to Ella, Lianna and Callan moving out of his way. “I mean it, princess. You think I’m a bastard? Wait ‘til you meet Baden Niels. And you know as well as I do
exactly
what the Reidar are capable of.”

Something seemed to pass unspoken between them and the fight went out of Ella.

“What would you have me do?” Ella transformed back into the priestess they’d first met, her demeanor still-water calm, as a fine tremor of energy infused the atmosphere.

The hatchway slid open, revealing a dozen soldiers lined up behind Agent Cabell.

Rian turned to face the soldiers, putting himself in the line of fire, as usual. “I don’t care what you do, so long as you do it
now
.”

The lights above them popped and sparked, plunging the room and outside passage into total darkness. Chaos erupted, shouting and the thumping echo of many booted feet moving. Zahli latched onto Tannin’s hand, the thick darkness and frenzied noise pushing her heart rate up, making her chest pound. Tannin tugged her arm and she followed him blind, hoping he had a better idea of what to do than she did. His other hand came to rest on her shoulder. He pushed her against a wall, his body against her, protecting her from the sporadic pulse pistol fire that’d broken out.

The commotion went on and on, though only fractions of seconds ticked by.

And Ella thought this was a good way for them to escape? How were they going to get past the fourteen UAFA agents standing between them and freedom in this pitch black?

Little by little, the confusion and noise faded, until she heard nothing but her ragged inhalations, with Tannin’s breathing a harsh echo above her ear.

A bright, silver-blue orb appeared, hovering in the middle of the room, lighting up everything like a mini star. Tannin let her go as she took in the scene of UAFA agents lying strewn about the doorway and passage, all except for Agent Petros.

“Oh my god,” Agent Petros gasped, crouching to touch the neck of the nearest soldier, voicing exactly what Zahli had been thinking.

Ella stood under the shimmering star, a fine wave of blue electrical currents sparking over her skin and in the air around her. “They’re not dead, just asleep. We’d better get back to the ship before they wake up.”

“You heard her, let’s move it.” Rian stole a pulse pistol from a soldier lying across the hatchway.

“Remind me to never piss you off, priestess,” Callan said as he holstered two guns at his thighs, two at his hips, shoved another gun down the back of his pants, and then palmed two more. Because obviously one wasn’t enough.

Ella walked out ahead of them all, the little star keeping up with her like a floating guide through the darkness. Rian offered Miriella a pistol as she passed, but she shook her head. He shrugged and handed it and one other off to Lianna and then gave two weapons to everyone as they exited the room, leaving the UAFA soldiers unarmed.

At the end of the passageway, the door slid open, light flooding in from the adjoining sector and Ella’s star flickered before disappearing.

Ella turned to Rian. “There aren’t any other UAFA agents on Dalphin, in case you were wondering.”

“Are you sure?”

She shot him an exasperated look, becoming less like a priestess and more like the Ella they’d come to know. Of course, Rian could annoy
anyone
.

Ella held out a hand. “I can show you, if you don’t believe me.”

Rian sidestepped and almost bumped into a row of hard plastic chairs attached to the wall in the outer corridor.

“I’ll take your word on it.” He skirted the chairs and started at a jog along the passage.

What had that been all about?
Rian didn’t like to be touched, but he’d never almost fallen over himself trying to avoid someone. Usually he just got angry and took a verbal chunk out of whoever had been dumb enough to try.

She couldn’t help a small grin at how Ella had put Rian off-kilter as they emerged into the main section of the terminal.

“What are you smiling about?” Tannin asked as they passed through crystal-pane doors to the private docking bays, the spaceport eerie in its emptiness.

She shrugged. “We’re not going to Erebus.”

Tannin’s expression darkened. “We’re not in the clear yet. And somehow I doubt Baden Niels will give up on us so easily.”

“We’ll be safe on the
Imojenna
.”

Safe enough, anyway
.

The docking hangar had four other ships of various sizes grounded in it, yet there wasn’t a single person about. The UAFA agents had done a thorough job of clearing the place out to apprehend them.

The
Imojenna
had detainment clamps attached to her footings, used when a ship hadn’t paid its docking fees or to keep a ship dirt- or station-bound when the IPC of UAFA had warrants on one or all of the crew. Rian stopped to study the clamps, stringing an inventive lot of curses together as Sen hit the control to lower the loading ramp.

Rian turned to Tannin and her as the gangway thumped to the ground. “Everette, can you do something about these, like maybe hack into the spaceport mainframe and get them released?”

“I can—”

“Don’t say
try
or I’m leaving you here for the UAFA agents. I think they’re going to be a little pissed when they wake up with no weapons.”

Tannin glared at him, but nodded. “I’ll do something about it.”

“Get your ass on the bridge then.”

In a matter of moments they were all onboard and locking down the ship. Zahli followed Rian, Tannin, and Lianna up to the bridge. It almost seemed like she hadn’t been gone for the past four weeks. Nothing looked different, and once again they were blasting their way out of an impossible situation.

Some things never changed
.

Tannin slid into the co-pilot’s chair while Lianna took Rian’s usual spot. They spoke back and forth, talking technical stuff she had no hope of understanding. It made her heart swell to see Tannin working so naturally, like he belonged, like one of the crew. He’d found a place in the universe.

Her decision to leave the ship had been right, as much as it’d hurt.

But things had changed. The Reidar had proven they were all collateral damage when it came to getting their hands on Rian and Ella.

Rian didn’t have a choice about bending his rules any longer—it’d be dangerous for any of them to leave the
Imojenna
. He, and everyone else, would have to get used to the idea of Tannin and her being together.

“
Frecking Christ
.”

Zahli looked at Rian, who stood in front of the main viewport. She walked over to join him and saw what her brother had sworn about.

“Lianna, bring up outer-ship audio,” Rian instructed.

Down in the hangar, Cabell held Agent Petros, his forearm tight around her throat.

“Captain Sherron, surrender yourself and the Arynian now or I’ll break Petros’s neck,” the agent shouted. Something in his demeanor didn’t seem quite human any longer.

“Got it!” Tannin announced. “The detainment clamps are free.”

“We’re clear to launch as soon as you give the command, Captain,” Lianna reported, her calm tone at odds with the tense situation.

Zahli looked over at Rian. “How does he know about Agent Petros?”

Rian’s expression was devoid of emotion, but his gaze burned cold. “You heard Cabell. Niels has a file on me. They know everything, Zahli. There wasn’t a single moment of my life they didn’t touch when they had me. Niels probably made sure Mae got assigned to this detail to use her as back up collateral.”

This new information, the hint of god-knew-what torture he’d lived through, it left her whole body aching with soul-deep illness. But she couldn’t process it, not yet, not until they got away from Cabell and off Dalphin.

“What are we going to do? We can’t just leave her there.”

Rian spun from the viewport and strode over to the command console, tabbing the communications icon on the crystal display.

“I’m coming out. Don’t kill her.” He bent to open a compartment with some of his spare weapons stored inside. “I’m going down. When I’m clear of the ship, launch and head for the safehouse on Auberon. I’ll find some way to contact you later.”