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CHAPTER NINETEEN

Dani

She hadn’t felt this tense lifting off since maybe her first day as a collector. Her hands were sweating just gripping the seat. The ship rumbled, making her feet vibrate, lights flickering as the ship prepared to take off.

Her team was quiet, a few catching her eye before glancing around to the back where Saul, Tristan, and Garret sat. She turned her gaze over to them also, noticing neither of them talking or laughing like they had when they first arrived. Saul glared her way, while Garret wouldn’t meet her eyes.

She looked back over to the window. The rain was still coming down, but she could still see the patterns of the buildings. Soon they would all be gone, turned to rubble.

Myrell and Tom had tried to reason with Nadine and the other heads. But the council had made their decision, and it was final. She’d saved Kryxis from an awful fate at least, but the rest would perish. Even if the creatures had been turned into awful experiments by Marityne, they were still living things that called X110 home. Maybe some would flee from the city or make it down to the labyrinth of mines below before it was all wiped away.

The city would be gone, but the world would still be standing. It could go on. She might not be able to save what was, but she could still talk to the council about the possibility of rebuilding in the future. For now, she had to watch as the ship slowly began to rise as plumes of white smoke from the rockets blocked her view.

The ship left the landing dock and rose above the buildings, only to turn clockwise and begin to steadily ascend into the blue-gray clouds above. The ship roared and picked up speed, pushing her body back into the seat. She shut her eyes and thought of Kryxis below, hoping he’d secured himself.

The window darkened as they broke through the atmosphere and out into the dark of space. By now the response team’s ship had to be right behind them. She hadn’t considered yet how exactly she was going to sneak Kryxis into the main ship. She just had to hope his stealth skills would be as good in a spaceship as they were in the city.

As the stars started to pop up, she saw the main ship ahead, growing bigger as they sped toward it. Her heart pounded in her ears as she thought about the crazy thing she’d done.

As their ship approached, a voice rang overhead. “Clear to dock.”

The ship slowed, gliding closer, then latching itself to one of the bay doors. Once their ship was locked in place and the port depressurized, the ship powered down.

They unlatched from their seats. When Saul and the others weren’t looking, Dani leaned over to Myrell next to her.

“Tell everyone to go on and get started on the supplies. We’ll be right there,” she whispered.

Myrell directed the team out, except for Morse who Dani kept with her. She caught Garret’s gaze as she slipped by him but refused to say a word. As the rest of her team headed for the supply room to start transferring everything off the ship, she and Morse turned for the engine room.

“Where are you going?” Garret said.

Dani looked back and saw Garret following behind them. “Morse left some tools in the engine room. I’m going to help retrieve them.”

He studied her closely, but she refused to break. “I’m sorry about what happened. With the vrisha,” he said.

She stared up at him, uncertain what he expected her to say.

Saul called to him from somewhere nearby, but he didn’t move. “Can I call you later?”

She badly wanted to say no. But better to be on security’s good side for the time being. “Maybe,” was the best answer she could give.

Before he could argue whether “maybe” actually meant “no,” Saul called to him again. “You know where to find me. Call up to security any time if you need anything.”

As he disappeared, she tugged at Morse’s sleeve and turned back for the engine room.

Inside it was dark save for a low red light. “Kryxis?” she called. They didn’t see him at first, and anxiety took hold of her.

Oh, gods, did he get hurt after all? Did the hatch open and he got blown out into space?

She went to call for him again when Morse let out a shout in surprise, looking up at the ceiling.

Kryxis was there in one corner, holding onto a thick set of metal wires. He grinned at her then dropped down. Morse instinctively backed away, but she didn’t move as Kryxis lurched over to her.

He towered next to her, the muscles in his arms flexing. Her stomach flipped just at the sight. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to his size.

“Ride wasn’t too bumpy, was it?” she asked while moving her hand up and down like a ship on a wave.

“ Niset, isseret ,” he said.

He certainly didn’t look scared. In fact, there was a spark in his gaze as if he’d actually enjoyed it.

His gaze turned to Morse, who appeared rigid, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end.

“It’s okay, Morse,” Dani said, softly. “He won’t hurt you.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” he mumbled. “He’d just better not break anything else.”

Kryxis stepped toward him, and Morse let out a soft growl in warning. Kryxis hardly reacted, pointing over to the ship’s power supply. “ Lichar mi nak vi las ituras min nara iss .” When Morse shook his head, not understanding, Kryxis chose his next words carefully.

“My…bad.”

Dani couldn’t suppress her smile. “I think he’s trying to say he’s sorry.”

Morse grumbled next to her. “Great.”

“And he won’t do it again, right?” She glared at him.

Kryxis wouldn’t meet her gaze, and she sighed.

“Follow us,” she ordered. “And no messing around. If you get caught, it’s not just us who’ll get in trouble.”

She went on ahead first to make sure security had left the ship, then she had Kryxis slip into the supply room which was mostly empty now that her team had gone, transferring the artifacts to the main ship’s storage.

Only one large metal crate was left. Dani slid the lid back and peered into the empty space.

“You might have to curl up pretty tight, but it’s all we’ve got,” she told him.

Kryxis didn’t hesitate. He hopped into the crate and sank down, adjusting himself so that she could shut the lid over him.

Quickly, she attached the carrier drones, lifting the crate up then slowly moving it out of the ship and onto the service tunnel toward the storage bay.

The bay was a huge sector of the ship’s lower decks, filled with artifacts and all other supplies for the vessel. It was also well guarded by both security and their cameras. But there were vaults for personal storage or special artifacts. She and Morse brought the crate around to vault 007 and quickly led the crate inside, setting it down in the center.

“I’ll come back for you,” Dani whispered through one of the slits along the crate. “I’ll figure something out.”

Quickly, they shut Kryxis inside the vault. As it locked in place, she heard someone calling her name. She looked around and saw Nadine heading toward her.

“Go help the others,” she told Morse. As he slipped away, she went and closed the distance between her and Nadine, a tall woman with silky black curls and a sharp gaze. On her black suit, she wore the silver pin of Nexacor.

“I was looking for you,” she said as Dani approached. Her gaze drifted past Dani’s shoulder to vault 007. “Got something else?”

“Oh, just a few things Tom picked up. Machine parts mostly. You know he couldn’t help it.”

Nadine crossed her arms and shook her head. “That man. I’ll let it slide. Since he and the others…had a very upsetting experience. You all did. I’m sorry this mission was so challenging. If we had known more…but we were only given so much information from Marityne.”

“I would say there’s a lot they didn’t tell us,” Dani said almost bitterly.

“We’ll get a meeting set up. This should not have gone this way. I’m just glad everyone got out.”

“Almost everyone.” This time she did sound bitter.

“I heard about Ryatt. It is unfortunate. But he knew what this job entailed.”

He sure did. They all did. “Thankfully it wasn’t all in vain,” Dani said.

“True. Your team did well despite the circumstances. I checked the logs. You got almost everything.”

Almost everything? She was about to question her on that when she remembered. The datachip. She still had it in her pocket. And she had yet to add it to the records.

Nadine studied her, waiting for some reply. Yes, despite the circumstances, her team was still expected to finish the job, no matter how many lives were lost.

Dani clenched her hand in a fist at her side to keep herself from patting her pocket. “Is there any way you can call off the demolition team?”

Nadine gave her a disappointed look. “They’ve already been deployed. The heads have made their decision.”

“The city doesn’t have to be destroyed.”

“It’s been confirmed to be too dangerous, Dani. It’s too far gone from infestation. Saul said—”

“He doesn’t know everything,” Dani blurted.

Nadine arched a brow. “What do you know?”

She bit her lip, annoyed she couldn’t hold her anger. “I know Marityne isn’t so innocent.”

“If you discovered something, you have to give a report.”

“I would like to talk to the heads about it at the meeting.”

Nadine crossed her arms. “I don’t want you to get in trouble, Dani. Did you find the datachip or not?

Dani looked away, watching the others moving supplies around the storage bay. She glanced back at Nadine. “Will Nexacor stop from destroying the city?”

“No.”

“Then I can’t say I found a chip.” She moved past Nadine to go help with the rest of the supplies. Nadine called back to her.

“Your position could be on the line, Dani. Please, reconsider.”

She shouldn’t be surprised. “Call the meeting with the other heads,” Dani said. “And we’ll see.”

Getting everything placed in the storage bay went as smoothly as expected. One last check of the ship, and the mechanics went in to do their tests. Once everything was accounted for, she freed the team from any more work, allowing them to return to the upper decks and start filing their reports with management.

“You did the right thing, Dani,” Myrell said when most of them had gone. “Saving Kryxis, despite his antics. There’s no reason he should have been on X110. If what Tom said was right, vrisha are a protected race. If it had gotten out that Nexacor destroyed the city knowing he was there, it could be very bad.”

“And he’s still in danger,” Dani added. “He’s not safe here. If the heads find out…”

“Talk to Tom. He clearly knows more about them. He might be able to help get in touch with those running the alliance.”

Dani went in search of Tom who, to no one’s surprise, was the last to leave, still inspecting parts, filing them into his personal log.

“Gotta say, we did real good despite losing a bunch of parts on the bridge,” Tom said when he noticed her. “Management will be getting a novel complaint back from me at this rate.”

“As they should,” Dani said. “Also, I wanted to ask you. It’s about Kryxis.”

“He got out of the ship okay?”

“Yes. But…he can’t stay hidden forever. I’m going to be talking to the heads about what I found on X110. But also, I need to contact the alliance and let them know we’ve found him. Can you help me?”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “There are definitely ways to get a hold of them. I will search around and get on that right away.”

She thanked him, leaving him to finish his work. She was desperate to get back upstairs and take a long-needed shower, but she wanted to check on Kryxis. Sneaking back over to vault 007, she unlocked it and went inside.

“Kryxis, I’ve got good news,” she started as the vault shut behind her. “We are going to—”

She froze.

The crate was open, the lid bent to one corner.

Oh, no.

She shot over and peered inside. The crate lay empty.

She cursed and whirled around, searching every corner of the room. He was nowhere to be found.

How the hell did he…?

Then she noticed the large vent above. The grate from it was popped off and lying on the ground.

“Kryxis!” she hissed at the vent.

No response.

Dammit!

He was gone.