Page 27 of Her Alien Cyborgs (The Drift: Haven Colony #10)
They were all in the cockpit when the time came to transit back to normal space. Hezza was beside him with Kalan seated at the weapons station, his hands on the controls. If they were met by hostiles, they’d be ready.
Fyr’enth hoped that wouldn’t be the case. He wanted his first view of Liberty and its colony to happen without being tainted by violence.
“Do you think anyone came?” Hezza sounded worried, and her fingers were drumming a staccato beat on the edge of the console.
He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it lightly. “I think your friends are waiting for you. Whoever shows up, it will be enough.”
At the very least, he expected Phylomenia and her males to be in the system.
Would anyone else be there? That depended on how long it took her messages to reach them and how far they’d had to travel.
They’d taken the Gambit on a tour of the most isolated places she could think of.
Sometimes, they’d take the tracker out and let it drop its breadcrumbs into the void.
Other times, they’d kept it locked away.
No one had caught up with them, so their tactics had worked well enough.
They’d traveled for the better part of three weeks, avoiding all but the most remote outposts. The few times they’d stopped to restock supplies, they’d gone to automated way stations where the odds of crossing paths with another ship were slim.
“I hope you’re right.” Hezza tapped the screen, and a countdown timer appeared. In five seconds, they’d drop to normal space and find out who was waiting for them.
Three. Two. One.
“Holy fraxx ,” Hezza stared at the viewscreen in shock.
Green lights lit up the display, each one indicating a friendly vessel.
There were a handful of red lights, too, but they were almost lost in the sea of emerald.
“I have four—no, five IAF ships on visual. Four are in orbit around the third planet in the system. One appears to be patrolling the outer areas.”
“We are being hailed,” the ship’s AI announced.
“By whom?” Hezza asked.
Instead of answering verbally, a list of names appeared on a smaller monitor. It took him a split second to realize each entry was a ship name and the name of the being making the call.
The Bat Out of Hell 2 —Phylomenia Harrington
The Sun Sprite —Zura Watson
The Alacrity V —Tianna Astor
The Santar —Prince Tyran of Haven Colony
“Are you qarfing kidding me? How am I supposed to pick who to talk to first?”
“Talk to Phylomenia. We know her,” Kalan suggested.
Fyr’enth recognized all the names but only because he’d read as much as he could find about the cyborg rebellion and what came afterward.
He knew about the Gray Men and their evolution into a new threat now called the Shadows.
Zura Watson and Tianna were mentioned in those files, but he wasn’t sure why they were here, so he discounted them as options.
Given the choice between Phylomenia and the unknown Vardarian prince, he agreed with Kalan. The human was the better bet.
Hezza opened a channel. “Hey, Phyl. It’s good to see you. I wasn’t expecting things to be so, uh, crowded around here.”
Phylomenia’s face appeared a second later. She looked the same as the last time Fyr’enth had seen her, only her smile seemed brighter this time.
“You made it! We were worried some asshat IAF officer had done something stupid,” she said in her gentle drawl.
“You’re just saying that to rile up your husbands. And, no, we didn’t see anyone on our little tour, IAF or otherwise. Not until we arrived here, anyway. Is that Barrios’s task force I see in orbit?”
“It is.” Phylomenia smirked. “He’s been trying to give orders to everyone, even the prince. To say it hasn’t gone well for him is putting it mildly. Scott’s sent so many letters of complaint I’m amazed no one’s been sent to replace him yet.”
“Any sign of the Falcon ?” Fyr’enth asked.
“ Fraxx , you two cleaned up nicely. Apologies for the question, but are you Fyr’enth or Kalan? And to answer your question, the Falcon is in the system, but Barrios is being cagey about its whereabouts.”
“I’m Fyr’enth,” he said. It felt good to have another being use his chosen name.
“Nice to see you again. Both of you.” She gave Hezza a long, intense look. “So? Are they your mates or not?”
Hezza laughed. Then she turned her head from side to side to show off the marks on either side of her neck.
“Yes! Congratulations to all three of you. Anya sends her love, by the way. She’s waiting for you to contact her, but she figured you’d be swamped with messages when you first arrived.”
“She’s the next one I’m contacting after this,” Hezza said.
“Maybe make that the second one you call. Prince Tyran needs to speak to you. It’s important, Hez.
You wouldn’t believe how intense things have been lately.
Haven is on high alert, and a lot of the ships you’re seeing are Vardarian cruisers.
The news about the new cyborgs hit them hard, and they’re ready to start a war if anyone does something foolish.
Now that you and your mates are here, we’ve got a chance to get things hammered out. ”
“I can do that. But there’s not much more we can tell them that wasn’t on the files I sent.”
“They need to talk to Kalan and Fyr’enth. All the other cyborgs are still in cryo-pods.”
“Why haven’t they been woken up yet?” Fyr’enth asked. As far as he was concerned, cryo was just another kind of prison.
“Getting Barrios to release them took longer than it should have. I don’t understand why, but he finally agreed to the transfer two days ago.
They’re down on the surface now, well-protected and being examined by our medical staff and healers.
They’ll be awake soon, but there were some concerns that the pods might be trapped in some way. ”
“That’s possible?” Kalan asked.
Phylomenia looked grim. “It is.”
Hezza nodded. “They did it before. At the end of the cyborg rebellion. When they knew it was over and the cyborgs would be freed, some of the corporations sabotaged the cryo-pods so that if the proper codes weren’t used during deactivation, the cyborg inside died.”
“What about the staff who fled the research station and were captured? Have they told you anything?”
“It’s been frustrating. The only ones who want to talk don’t know much. They’ve given us the names of their superiors, but we don’t have many of them in custody, and they aren’t cooperating.”
Phylomenia made a soft sound at the back of her throat. “I do have some news for you. The Pheran female who gave you the data stick was last seen boarding one of the ships that was shot down while trying to leave. I’m sorry. She wasn’t one of the survivors.”
A pang of sorrow hit Fyr’enth harder than he expected. He’d barely known the female, but in a place full of cruelty, she’d been one of a handful to never do him or Kalan harm.
“Thank you for telling us,” he said.
“Did you find out anything about Detta Ani? The Vardarian in charge of the research station?” Kalan asked.
“No news there, either. The Vardarians are still looking, but so far they can’t find any information with that name or likeness.
” Phylomenia sighed. “I wish I had something positive to tell you. There’s so much we don’t know right now, and it worries me.
” Phylomenia tugged at her hair absently and then sighed.
“This feels too much like what happened on Astek Station. All the models predict that the Shadows are too fractured to do any real damage, but this…” She shrugged.
“This feels like their handiwork. When we are done here, we’re escorting Tianna and Zura’s ships back to Defiance Station.
I don’t want anyone I care about flying around alone out there right now.
” Phylomenia smiled and added, “Consider that an invitation to make the trip with us. I don’t know what your plans are, but you know you can always find work in The Drift. ”
“I can’t say yes right now, but I do appreciate the invitation.” Hezza raised a hand in a gesture of goodbye. “Talk to you soon.”
The call ended, leaving the cockpit in silence.
“I’m sorry about the Pheran female. I know she wasn’t really a friend, but still, she deserved better,” Hezza said.
“She did,” Fyr’enth agreed.
“Maybe she’s at peace now. I don’t think she had much of that on the station,” Kalan said.
“I hope so.” Hezza sat up straighter and drew in a long breath. “Are you two ready to meet the prince? He should be our next call.”
“No,” Fyr’enth said.
“Not even a little. But it has to be done,” Kalan agreed.
“Yeah, it does. But before we do that, I want you to know something.”
She pivoted her chair around to face them both, her knees crammed against his thigh. “I love you, and no matter what happens next, we’ll get through it. Together.”
She held out her hands to them, and Fyr’enth took one as his brother took the other.
“Together,” they said at the same time.
“Okay then. Let’s talk to the prince and see what he has to say.”
“And if we don’t like what we hear?” Fyr’enth asked the question weighing heavily on his mind.
“Then we fight until we get the answers we want,” Kalan said, his voice dangerously calm.
“Agreed,” Hezza said and squeezed their hands.
Fyr’enth looked at this beautiful, brave, enthralling female and knew in his heart that things would go their way. How could they not when they had their mahaya standing with them?