Page 385 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Akri

I woke up suddenly, my body jerking into wakefulness, my senses on high alert.

Something had happened, something bad. For a disorienting moment, I had no clue what, or even where, I was.

It was dark, with only a faint light coming from somewhere much farther away.

The cave? Was that the light from the suns rising?

When I fell asleep, Jenny had been in my arms, sleeping sweetly after we’d shared sex.

My body heated at the memory, then rapidly cooled when I realized she was missing.

There was no sign of her anywhere, and this definitely wasn’t the cave.

I should have noticed it much sooner, but my mind felt foggy.

I was lying on a metal floor, and when I sat up, I noticed the bars lining one side of the small room I was in.

Another cell. What had happened? I didn’t remember anything beyond falling asleep with my arms full of Jenny.

I didn’t have any injuries, either, nothing to explain this sudden loss of memory.

Getting up, I headed for the bars, trying to see what was beyond them.

I didn’t like this one bit. Where was my mate?

Had I been the only one taken? Or had they taken her too?

This was not good, and the longer I was without answers, the harder it was to stay on top of the many rising feelings in my chest.

Jenny was missing, and it was making me frantic.

Was she hurt? Dead? What was happening to her right now?

Where was I? How could I get out of here?

I paced back and forth like a caged animal, locked in my own spiraling thoughts.

There was no one in here with me; I saw more cells, but each of them was empty.

I had nothing on me, just my boots and pants. Nothing I could use to pry open these bars or hack the electronic lock on the other side. I tried brute strength on them, but that was as stupid an idea as it was futile. Jenny needed me right now! Think, damn it! How could I get out of here?

Did I have any cables left, or had they taken them all?

I patted my pants, feeling along the seams and in my pockets.

Yes, the one twined behind my belt, I still had that one!

I rushed for the bars, already attaching the cable to my left Liades, where the port was located.

In moments, I had it hooked up to the lock, a simple thing with no real access to any network.

Didn’t matter; I could tell it to open my cell. That was a good first step.

Unhooking the cable from the lock but not my Liades, I jogged out, looking left and right to make sure I was really alone.

There were bound to be cameras in here, but I couldn’t see them in the dark.

I had to hurry if I wanted to avoid whoever was on their way to me right now.

If I wasn’t in time, I’d take them all down, I wouldn’t let a fight deter me.

I had a new mission, the most important mission there was: to rescue Jenny.

The door to the block of cells opened without checking permissions, and I ducked through it into a hallway. Instantly, my hackles rose, this wasn’t a building; this was a ship. What had happened? How had I gotten here? I didn’t recognize the type of ship—not from what little I’d seen—but I would.

The sound of boots coming down the hallway from my left decided for me.

I dashed to the right and turned the corner.

Each of the walls was stark black, but lights ran in strips along the corners, providing ample illumination.

After a few random turns to create distance, I hooked myself up to an access panel next to a door.

I needed intel, and I needed access, and if I could manage it, I needed to call for help.

I closed my eyes to help me focus, granting myself access to all the systems of the ship.

I felt dread rise in my stomach when I learned whose ship I was on: Drameil’s ship, the Dart.

So he’d managed to steal me from Ov’Korad, but how had he found me in the desert? And where was Jenny?

I combed through the camera feeds on the ship and moaned in despair when I located her—in a black room, like everything else on this ship.

She was on her knees, hands tied behind her back, and the green of the amulet glinted on her chest. Drameil stood in front of her in long black robes, the tip of his cane pressed to the tender flesh beneath her chin.

With no audio to tap into, I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I knew he was questioning her.

Did he think she was the one trying to steal his secrets?

Now I had her location, and without hesitation, I ran, no plan in mind, just fueled by the desperate need to save her.

I hadn’t even counted how many guards were with him, or how many were on the ship.

I hadn’t called for help. I was almost at the door when I encountered the first resistance: two Krektar males in full gear.

They didn’t stand a chance against my fists or my rage, going down in seconds.

It was the scent of their blood and the bruises on my knuckles that brought me to my senses.

Rushing in there might get both of us killed, since I didn’t have control of the situation and didn’t know all the facts.

I had to do something soon, but I needed to be smart about it.

Think! I was once a bright AI, and now I controlled a brain as good as any supercomputer, I needed to use it.

I yanked a com device from the wrist of one of the downed Krektar and hailed Ziame’s device from memory.

Even as I waited for the call to connect, I typed out a message to him with my location and the coordinates of the ship.

Then, I added the shield frequencies for good measure, grateful that being what I was made my memory infallible for such details.

“Who is this?” Ziame growled when he answered, and my heart soared at hearing the voice of my friend and Captain.

I had missed him, I hadn’t even realized how much.

It steadied me to hear his familiar voice, and it was even more grounding to answer him in the Lacerten language, the language I’d learned first when I was created.

“It’s me, Akri. Drameil has us. Can you reach us at the coordinates I just sent you? We need immediate extraction,” I rushed out. My feet had already started down the hallway once more, drawing me to the room in which I knew Drameil was interrogating my mate.

“Akri! Thank the stars, are you alright? Of course we’re coming for you.

Sunder, Kitan?” He was already delegating; I could hear the pilot confirm the coordinates in the background.

They would come. Now I just had to make sure they could get onto this ship without hurting the Vagabond, and I had to make sure that Jenny and I were alive by the time they got there. Alive and unhurt.

“How soon?” I demanded, because I couldn’t tell from the com signal how far away the Vagabond was, or even if Ziame was on it.

Hours would be bad, but if that’s what it would take, I would make it happen.

If I could free Jenny and we could hide somewhere with access to the ship, I could stall anyone on here indefinitely.

Yes, that was going to have to be the plan.

“Thirty minutes?” Ziame said, but he didn’t sound as sure as I would have liked, and I didn’t have time to talk more; I was nearing the room my mate was in.

I’d forced myself to remember what else was in the image I’d seen, and I was now confident I was dealing with only four guards and Drameil himself—a manageable number.

“See you in thirty. I have to rescue my mate. Akri, signing off.” I dropped the com device to the floor, slammed my hand on the access panel next to the door, and then charged into the room.

*

Jenny

At first, I thought I’d just had a little too much to drink of Drova’s potent brew.

Then I recalled the smell of the date rape drug he sold under the table—not so much to use it for, you know, drugging dates, as it was used to drug some unsuspecting sap so he could be robbed when he stumbled outside for some fresh air.

Oh fuck, where was I? The surface I was on was soft, a bed or a couch, maybe.

The light was bright, making my eyes hurt and my head throb.

It took precious moments for my body to adjust, nausea rising, the room spinning a little.

I was going to be sick. Whatever that drug had done to me, it was giving me the hangover from hell.

My mouth filling with saliva, I hadn’t even managed to focus enough to figure out my surroundings before I was forced to throw up.

I leaned forward, my hands finding the edge of whatever I was on.

I pulled weakly, just enough for most of the vomit to land next to me, instead of on the soft bed I was lying on.

A hissing noise sounded over my retching.

At least the expelling of my stomach contents was doing the job of finally clearing my mind.

Everything was black around me, but the light was as bright as day.

I wasn’t on a bed, but a settee of deep black silk, marbled with silver thread that looked too real for my comfort. I was glad I hadn’t puked on that.

“Disgusting. Are you done?” a voice hissed, and my head jerked up, the world seesawing around me.

Across from me, on a large black chair, sat a male; a Sythral male.

For a disorienting moment, I wondered if it was Laimeil, the loan shark that Drova had tried to give me to.

They looked so very similar that they could have been brothers.

Maybe that was just me not recognizing their features well enough, because they looked so creepily alien.