Page 4 of Rebels Rising (The Intergalactic Union #3)

Artemis

I checked myself over just to be sure, but the evidence was right in front of me. I wasn’t glowing. Bromm was .

‘I thought you said The Program didn’t test on any of you,’ I accused, snapping a squinty-eyed, suspicious glare towards the others in the room.

Cadmus raised his hands with his palms out in the universal sign of surrender but stepped towards me rather than away. ‘As far as I know, none of us besides Adara and Reece were experimented on.’

‘He’s right,’ Foryk said from my side, his voice quavering with unrestrained fear. ‘They didn’t take us. To our knowledge, they never even touched us.’

I frowned, my eyes returning to where Bromm was shining like a bright blue star on the cot. Unless they were drugged, it didn’t make any sense. They had clearly never had the nanites grafted into their bodies, otherwise they would have suffered the same way Reece and Addy had. They could have been injected with them, but they hadn’t suffered the side effects. At least as far as I was aware…

‘Have any of you experienced anything unusual the past solar?’ I asked.

Silence permeated the room as everyone shared curious looks, but it was Foryk who answered. ‘Bromm’s been having dreams,’ he said, his voice cracking on the last word, and I had a feeling I knew what those dreams really were. ‘He’s also been inexplicably passing out, but that’s a more recent development.’

I tutted, unhappy with those answers. They weren’t anything I didn’t already know.

‘There’s nothing else? Nothing at all?’

He shook his head no while everyone remained silent.

‘But… that doesn’t make any sense,’ I mumbled, more to myself than anyone else. ‘He’s not exhibiting any signs of The Program tampering with him. If anything his symptoms are delayed. They could be testing a new serum that takes a while to set in…’

I stopped my musings to level the room with a frown. ‘You’re sure they never touched him or any of you? You weren’t taken during the night?’

‘Artemis,’ Captain Hironimus spoke up, his voice gentle but firm. ‘I’ve been keeping a close eye on everyone. There have been no late-night kidnappings nor any form of experimentation on the cadets or the officers on Nova Station. Whatever is going on with Bromm, it wasn’t anything to do with those bastard scientists.’

I scowled at his attempt at reassurance, his words not connecting with the truth quite literally glowing right in front of me. Bromm was clearly riddled with nanites, there was no arguing that fact. The problem was how The Program managed to infect him with them so discretely that no one even noticed.

I wasn’t able to let my concern over the matter settle over me fully, however, because the ship chose that moment to fire up ready to launch. The entire ship juddered beneath us, rattling whatever medicines were loose inside the stacked boxes. Those standing stumbled with the next ship-wide shudder before scrambling to hold onto whatever was available before the next one hit, and I had to hold Bromm in place as he almost vibrated off the cot. Making a split decision that knacked at my nerves despite the necessity for his safety, I strapped him down and raised the guards to properly secure him in place. Eloria Stanson may have been an experienced pilot, but she was unfamiliar with this particular ship and it showed.

‘Wait!’ the captain shouted, features taut with distress. ‘What about Markus? He’s still on the station!’

I froze while the men in the room exchanged nervous glances, but the only other person in the room who didn’t seem to care was Addy. Our eyes met, a silent understanding passing between us. Neither one of us would miss the large, blonde mutt. That nasty business with Jorna was what cinched it for me. There was simply no way Markus had gone missing while his girlfriend was guarding The Program’s scientists. He was up to something, and I had no doubt he was working with her.

I didn’t want to stick around when he discovered I’d killed her by caving her face in with my fist.

I also realised that neither Addy nor the captain were aware of Jorna’s betrayal, or her death. That was likely a story better told at a later date when things had calmed down a bit. As it stood, tensions were high from the battle and our own betrayal of the IU’s military. Unfortunately, corruption led to the formation of a rebellion, the oppressed always finding a way to fight back. I was now a part of that rebellion, no longer able to hold back from the fury they had ignited.

And though I wished I could do it all on my own, I was still only one person and couldn’t topple an intergalactic threat by myself. Perhaps it made me a bad person, but I hoped these men and women would continue to put their lives on the line to fight with me to end The Program’s reign of evil. I was going to need all the help I could get.

Dave Junior nudged at my thigh with his wet nose, and I glanced at him to see what he needed. Bal was still on his back where I’d placed him to keep him safe while I welded the door shut again, except he wasn’t sitting nicely. I should have been paying closer attention, but with Bromm the way he was I could admit I was struggling to focus on much else.

Unfortunately, that had only given Bal the freedom to tug and poke at Junior, who was currently glaring at me from his position at my feet. Bal’s fingers were jabbing at multiple different eyeballs while the other yanked at his ears, and Junior was very clearly nearing the end of his patience. When I didn’t immediately remove Bal from his back, he released a warning growl that was more vibration that vocals but somehow sounded much more dangerous.

I took the hint.

Bal didn’t want to release his hold on Dave Junior straight away, clinging to him and digging his fingers in further to stay put. I didn’t entirely blame him. He was only a baby and hadn’t encountered a creature like Dave Junior before. Neither had I, for that matter, and I wasn’t about to deny him his curiosity. I just needed to find a way to redirect it into a safer, kinder, gentler method of exploration.

The ship rocked again, but this time it was less like heavy turbulence and more like we’d bumped into something. The next moment, Eloria Stanson’s holographic face appeared above Bromm’s body for a second time, though the stress lines around her eyes and mouth were significantly more pronounced.

‘Captain, they’ve locked down the station’s hangar bay. I can’t open the doors,’ she said, her voice pitched higher in her panic.

I pursed my lips in annoyance. Not at her, but the situation. I should have expected them to make things as difficult for us as possible, and I had up until my attention had been diverted to Bromm.

Bal began to fuss and wriggled around in an attempt to get back to Dave Junior, but I held him firm. I stroked the top of Bal’s head, enjoying the softness of his fine blonde hair as I attempted to settle him, and it worked. His head tilted to rest against my shoulder and he nuzzled against my neck, his small breaths puffing against my skin and tickling me.

‘I’ll handle it,’ I told her. ‘Just get ready to set off as soon as those doors open.’

‘How?’ she asked.

We didn’t have time for me to elaborate, but I realised I would need to come clean about most (if not all) of my abilities if we were going to work together smoothly from here on out. Especially if they were looking to me for direction.

‘I can hack into the system and override their commands, but I should start now before we lose the opportunity to escape before they mobilise their own ships. Get ready to fly, GC Stanson.’

‘Yes, Captain,’ she agreed, and though the call cut out I could tell she was still unsatisfied with my vague answer, but she would just have to wait for the long one.

‘How are you going to do that?’ asked Captain Hironimus, and I turned to see that both he and Addy were looking at me with expectant and openly curious expressions.

‘I’ll explain it later,’ I waved them off. ‘No time now. Can someone please hold Bal until I’m done?’

I wasn’t sure why I found it so odd when Foryk was the one to take him from my grip and cradle him against his broad chest, but it was shocking to see him handle a baby at all let alone so tenderly.

What shocked me even more was how easily Baldr took to him. After gazing up at the oversized Tornu with wide, wonder-filled eyes, he quickly made himself at home against Foryk’s chest. He even attempted to hug him back, though his little arms only spanned the length of one of Foryk’s pectorals. And when Foryk practically melted beneath Bal’s affection, I had to fight to keep my jaw from hitting the floor.

I scrutinised the gruff man with a new perspective, and decided I liked what I found. Bromm had clearly already discovered something less abrasive about him for them to become such close friends, and now that I was seeing it I didn’t think I’d be able to stick to viewing only his tough outer shell.

Who knew Foryk was a closet softie?

Another judder rocked through the ship and I physically shook those thoughts from my head. I didn’t understand why I was so distracted, especially considering the dire circumstances we were still in, and I had a job to do.

I grabbed Bromm’s hand between mine again, needing the connection to ground me. The ship was brimming with all these people relying on me to get them to safety, all these people that had chosen to stand up for what was right even when it went against their orders; that had turned their backs on their military because I’d taken a stand and the believed in my cause. It was overwhelming, and my chest constricted at the mere idea of it all.

Going against The Program had never been my initial plan. All I’d wanted was freedom for myself and Libby and the chance to lead a normal life away from the pain and torment of constant experiments and mind games. Things had gotten so far out of control and I was struggling to wrap my head around it all. It felt like I was being bombarded not only by my own emotions that were far too big to contain, but the expectations from everyone around me. Even now, Libby and all the other women were back in their cave living a simple life in the wilds while I was out here trying to save everyone.

It was too much.

But I could think about all that later. Right now, all I had to do was open the gate.

My eyes closed, almost of their own volition, and I could see the bright blue glow through the thin skin of my eyelids. A tick later and I was inside the web, the thick glowing line I’d landed on pulsing with the energy of untapped information, a physical siren call to follow its trail. It whispered to me, a buzz of untapped knowledge directing me where I needed to be.

I followed.

It hadn’t always been so simple and easy to navigate through the web. When I’d first discovered it, I’d been stuck in the same spot for ages. It wasn’t until I’d learned how to rifle through the possibilities for passwords and lock codes that I was finally able to move around and explore. Now, it was as easy as breathing. I didn’t even need to think about it beyond my goals. It was as if the web responded to my innermost thoughts and desires and directed me exactly where I needed to be.

I quickly located and hacked into the system containing the controls to the hangar bay, and with barely a thought I overrode the station’s coding and implemented my own. A beep sounded in the physical world that let me know that I had succeeded, the sound echoing through the ship to signal the opening of the hangar bay’s doors.

I felt the ship’s vibrations as it picked up speed, and I knew that despite the enemy’s inevitable attempts to chase us we had managed to escape. At least for now.

‘Artemis?’

The deep, sensual, familiar voice had me spinning around so fast I was sure I would have given myself whiplash if not for the nanites. ‘Bromm!’

I rushed forward, eager to reach him. Despite the extended width of this particular line of the web, he still seemed unsteady as he sat in the middle, arms spread wide to catch me. I launched myself onto his lap, tackling him in a hug that I fought hard not to squeeze him through.

He buried his nose in my hair as his beard stroked my cheeks and his arms wrapped around my thinner frame. He had no such qualms over squeezing me and it didn’t pass my notice that he was stronger than before. His hug left me breathless.

I couldn’t stop the full body sobs as they tore through me, my tears immediately soaking through the collar of his shirt. ‘I th-thought I l-lost you,’ I cried.

His hands stroked through my hair, tangling in the strands before he wound them into his fist to pull me back. He didn’t let go. Instead, his eyes bore into mine with an intensity that scared me. There was fear behind them, and confusion.

‘Artemis, what happened?’

My bottom lip quivered at the memory of him suddenly dropping, the way he changed from perfectly healthy to barely livelier than a corpse in the blink of an eye something I never wanted to relive. ‘You collapsed. You stopped breathing.’

I forced the words out, though they were so reluctant to leave my throat that they were spoken as barely more than a whisper. Even saying them at all dredged up the most intense sensation of devastating desperation and terror.

I encased his face in my hands and pierced him with my most penetrating glare. ‘You can’t leave me, Bromm. Losing you is not an option. You’re not allowed to die.’

His hands rose to cover mine, but he didn’t pull them away. Instead, he pushed them even tighter against his head to the point that I was afraid I would hurt him.

‘I’m not going anywhere any time soon, my love,’ he attempted to assure me, but his next statement undid any progress that comment could have created. ‘But I don’t understand what happened.’

I hesitated before asking my next question. I needed to know the answer, but I didn’t want to. ‘What do you remember?’

‘I told you I was going to look away while you fixed the door. Then I felt woozy and woke up here. It was just like what happened every other time I’ve ended up here, except this time I can’t seem to leave no matter how hard I try. I can’t wake up.’

‘Henrik had to resuscitate you. I think you might be in a coma right now, Bromm. You’re in the infirmary on the ship,’ I informed him. I wanted to be gentle with the news in case he reacted badly, but there really was no good way to say it.

Surprisingly, his eyes lit up. ‘Did we get away?’

My brows dipped low at the way he brushed off his current condition, but decided it was better to let him process the way he needed to and not push it. ‘We’re in the middle of leaving Nova Station. That’s why I’m in here. The doors wouldn’t open and I needed to override the coding.’

‘So we’re not in the clear,’ he surmised.

‘I doubt we’ll ever be in the clear, Bromm, but at least for now we’re safe,’ I told him, the good news overshadowed by our bleak future. Hopefully, we would win this fight and we would be free to live our lives.

‘Can you call my parents for me?’ he asked, the sudden switch in topic momentarily stunning me. I blinked.

‘What?’

‘I’m unconscious, and I’m stuck here. We’re on the run from the greatest threat the Intergalactic Union has faced since long before our time, and I can’t call them myself. Would you call them for me? Please?’

Even the thought of needing to call his parents on his behalf had panic flaring up inside me. He wasn’t that far gone. He wasn’t lost to me.

My nostrils flared, irrational anger burning me up from inside and I huffed indignantly. ‘You can damn well call them yourself when you wake up,’ I snapped.

His own temperament refused to rise to meet mine, instead staying calm and soothing as he smiled at me a little sadly. The only thing that stopped me from losing my head was the determination and love shining through in his eyes.

‘I will,’ he began, but I could hear the ‘ but’ coming. ‘But in the meantime I would really appreciate it if you just checked in with them for me. I just… I want to know they’re okay, and I want them to know that I’m okay too. It would give me some peace of mind.’

I sighed, shoulders slumping as the fight was expelled from me alongside the breath in my lungs. I leaned against him, ensuring my entire front side was pressed up against his, needing the connection.

‘I’ll call them, but I don’t know when I’ll have the chance,’ I conceded.

He placed a gentle, lingering kiss against my lips. ‘Thank you, my love.’

The sounds of the outside world trickled in louder than usual, and we both pulled apart at the interruption. Bal’s cries cut through the rest and I knew our time here was over. For now.

I leant in for another kiss, this one deeper and more passionate than the last though just as short. Bromm was breathless when I pulled away, and I took a moment to appreciate the heavy-lidded lust in his eyes before bursting our bubble.

‘I have to go now, but I’ll come back as soon as I can, okay?’

His lips tilted up at the corners but didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘Okay.’

I held his eyes with my own, memorising them to tide me over until I could see them again in person. ‘I love you, Bromm. More than you could possibly know. We’ll figure this out, I promise.’

His answering smile, though still undercut with worry, was a little brighter. ‘I know we will. I love you too, baby. I’ll see you soon.’

And then the ship reformed around me into a chaotic mess that was not how I left it.