Page 180 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Fierce

Once Hina and I made it back to the top of the drill hole I’d fallen into, we were met by the others, who helped us get our feet back on the ground. Then we worked together to slide the panels back over the hole, so no one else could fall down it.

Da’vi had a nasty bump on his head, though not as big a lump as I had.

He and I were the only ones who’d gotten hurt when the gravity fluctuated as wildly as it had.

Camila and Thorin hadn’t even noticed it in their section of the old base, though Jakar had, where he’d been.

Worrisomely, they hadn’t found Luka, but they had found his bag of medical supplies and the travel cage he’d been carrying, back in the first room.

“There’s worse news,” Thorin said. “Kitan contacted me. He reported a small ship-to-surface shuttle darting out from behind the moon and heading for the planet. It’s possible that someone took Luka, and that he was taken to the planet.”

That shuttle had apparently also drawn attention from the Aderian authorities, because they were now coming up to the moon to inspect this place.

We’d been forcefully instructed to board our shuttle and stay there so we couldn’t mess up more of the “crime scene.” But there were still animals in distress to recover and help, and we all agreed not to wait for that.

The Riho that Hina had put in her travel cage had survived the gravity flux situation and had started to perk up a little with the IV drip. Fluffy was purring and rubbing herself against the outside of the travel cage, working her magic to calm the distressed animal.

I didn’t want to leave Hina—not for a moment—but she was now the next best thing to the Doc and needed to stay with the others to help the animals they found.

Thorin wanted me to take Snarl and check out the spot where Luka had disappeared; we needed to try and figure out if he’d disappeared on his own or if someone had taken him. That latter seemed more likely.

Snarl’s helmet needed to go if he wanted to pick up any scents.

I felt sorry for him, because this place was a stinking mess—it would overwhelm nearly everything.

He was stoic about it all; he liked the Doc, and he was eager to search for him.

It wasn’t until we’d passed from the first room with the empty cages into one of the corridors flanked with bunkrooms and rec rooms that he picked up anything.

“He was here. Bleeding, I think. He’s got some kind of animal with him, it stinks. ”

With his nose to the floor, he trotted down the corridor toward a door at the end.

Thorin informed me that behind it was another room with a drill shaft, this one still exposed.

He was sure it was a dead end, but when Snarl entered the room, he headed straight for the hole in the ground.

“There’s another scent here, something like fuel. They went down here.”

“They?” I asked, just to be sure. His short snout dipped over the edge of the hole, red eyes trying to pierce the dark.

I followed his gaze, carefully leaning out just a little to look down the hole.

“Two men, at least two men,” Snarl confirmed.

The hole at the bottom of this shaft seemed to curve, with a black opening on one side.

It wasn’t a dead end. This shaft led somewhere, and that’s how they’d smuggled the Doc out. But why did they take him?

“Shit,” Thorin exclaimed. “So Doc had to have been on that shuttle, damn it!” I agreed, but there was nothing we could do from here.

We’d have to get down to the planet and locate him there.

Defeated, Thorin and I returned to the main room, where our brothers and Camila had unearthed five more animals that had survived.

Hina had each of them set up with IVs by now, but only that first one I’d found had been crated.

Thorin’s com clicked to life. “Guys, the Aderians have arrived. They’re demanding I disengage to allow them access.

You better all get aboard, or they might not let you leave,” Kitan warned us.

I headed for Hina, who was curled over a strangely shaped, leathery yellow creature about the size of a small child.

She was struggling with its IV because its skin was so tough.

Though it hurt me to say it, I pulled her away from her small patient.

“Leave it. The Aderains are here now; they will care for them.” She gave me a tired, sad look, but let me pull her to her feet.

I urged her toward the exit, but she dug in her heels and looked at the row of sad animals spread out on a few blankets on the floor.

“Are we taking any of them? Are we sure they will care for them?” she asked.

If it were up to me, we’d take them all, but without a Doc, could we even really help them?

I shared a look with Thorin, then Jakar, who was closest. Thorin shrugged and shook his head, directing his mate toward the exit and trotting away with her.

Jakar, however, looked as conflicted as Hina did.

“What about if we just take the one that’s crated? Fluffy likes that one, and it’s the only one of her kind,” the young Pretorian male suggested. We had no time to dawdle, so I wasn’t about to debate that, already heading over to pick up the crate, but Da’vi beat me to it. “Let’s get out of here.”

*

Luka

My scanner picked up a small life form in that corner, beneath a stack of crates.

It wasn’t in the best of shape, so getting to it was extremely urgent.

I barely paid attention as my friends continued talking, and I started pulling empty crates from the stacks, making my way to that little blip of life I’d spotted.

The closer I got, the better I sensed it—fear, pain… I felt sorry for it. No one should have to go through something like this, not my gladiator friends, nor any animal. It kept astounding me just how evil people could be.

I spotted a tuft of white fur and slowed my movements, trying to be quiet as I shifted crates so I wouldn’t spook the poor creature further.

“Hey there, little one,” I said in a soothing tone.

“It’s okay, I’m here to help you.” I shifted the last crate to reveal something that looked almost humanoid, with two arms and legs, a slender prehensile tail, and a little face with large, frightened eyes.

“There you are,” I said softly, going down on my haunches to carefully scan it with my handheld.

This was a type of primate—intelligent—and its genes had been edited in some manner.

What was shocking was that this primate was definitely from Earth; my scanner indicated it was something called a pinche monkey.

Or, at least, it most closely resembled that species before it had been gene-edited.

What it was now… that would be entirely unpredictable.

The little monkey stared at me with its dark eyes from beneath the impressive mane of white fur.

Its face and shoulders were black, but its arms and belly were white again.

It wasn’t quite so scared now, so I held out a hand to it, kicking my aura into gear and sending soothing, inviting vibes.

It worked: the little guy crawled from its hiding spot, took my hand with two chilled little hands, and everything about him told me he wanted to trust me.

Tucking my scanner away, I gently picked him up and curled him against my chest. He came trustingly, but his body was weak.

Holding him with one hand, I scanned him again, relieved to note that he was not as dehydrated as I’d expected.

This one was not in a cage; he’d managed to scavenge some fluids, at least. “Here, I’m going to give you something that will perk you right up,” I told the little guy.

Pulling free a high-calorie stick of sticky, sugary fluid, I tore open the tip with my teeth and offered it to him.

He snatched it from my fingers, suckling from the open container in greedy gulps.

“Good boy, take what you need,” I soothed.

He would need better care aboard the Vagabond, but this would tide him over until he could get more food and drink.

This would replenish most of what he had lost.

“Let’s go find the others, shall we?” I asked my little find.

He blinked his dark eyes at me and continued to greedily suck on his snack.

There was a shuffling noise behind me, the sound of a crate sliding across the floor.

I turned, expecting to see one of my friends approaching.

Instead, I was greeted by two men in unfamiliar spacesuits.

Their black faceplates hid their faces from me, so I couldn’t tell what species they were.

I stood up, turning to fully face them. “Whoa, who are you?” Their auras were filled with nothing good, aggression, anger. I dropped my handheld scanner and grabbed the laser pistol Camila had made me strap to my hip that morning. “Stay away. I’m armed.”

There was no reply. The two just suddenly leaped at me with outstretched arms. I tried to raise the pistol and fire at them, but I was too slow.

We slammed into the stack of crates with a clatter, one I fervently hoped my friends had heard.

I tried to curl my body around the little pinche monkey to protect him and ended up knocking into more empty cages.

A sharp pinch hit me in the back on the left side, and then everything went black.