Page 5 of Rebels Rising (The Intergalactic Union #3)

Reece

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was struggling. My pride so far had prevented me from speaking up because I knew I’d never live it down, but I couldn’t get out of the damn laundry cart. There were babies and toddlers crawling all over me, no safe place to put my feet, and I couldn’t manoeuvre around the abundance of wriggling, screaming tiny people to get a decent enough hold on the lip to pull myself out.

I bit my cheek. I knew what I had to do. There was nothing else for it.

I raised my hand and waved it to be seen over the lip of the cart and shouted above the chaos. ‘A little help here?’

It took a couple of ticks for someone to notice me, but soon enough there were multiple hands clamping down over the top of the cart’s walls followed by heads popping up.

One of which I recognised. Great.

‘You okay there, buddy?’ Dorian asked with a crooked grin. Though there was amusement in his eyes, his smile didn’t quite reach them. Instead, stress lined deep grooves at the corners and in between.

‘I can’t get out,’ I admitted with a grumble, gesticulating widely to point out the babies. It was definitely their fault, and I needed them to know it.

Urman’s face popped up beside Dorian’s, a teasing smirk pulling at his lips beneath his thin beard of tentacles. Both Urman and Henrik had some Griknot in their DNA, but Urman’s was more prominent despite the combination with Yu’Rom features. He was as short as me, and just as pale, the biggest difference the sparce tentacles wriggling around on the lower half of his face.

Objectively I knew that Griknots were supposed to be attractive, their features made for giving the ultimate pleasure. Personally, I preferred my Yu’Rom-Terran mix. Fancier ears. Magnificent hair. No wriggling. Plus, I could shave, and my height had never been something I’d felt self-conscious about. Until now.

‘I don’t know what you think is so amusing since we’re the same size,’ I snarked at him.

His grin only grew wider. ‘Yes, but I’m not the one that’s stuck.’

He had me there.

One of the babies let out a particularly shrill shriek when I accidentally stepped on their fingers – or toes, I couldn’t actually tell – and tiny rows of sharp teeth bit into my ankle. I hissed and shot both men a wide-eyed plea for help. Dorian sniggered but hefted himself further onto the ledge to give himself some leverage while he hauled me up. It was a tricky process to achieve while avoiding crushing all the children, but we managed. I only kicked one of them in the end, and it was only a toe grazing a knee. None of them cried, which I took as a win.

Pity it wasn’t the one who bit me, though.

Once my feet were firmly on the floor, no babies in sight, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was still a little unsteady on my legs, my body weak and frail after all I had been through over the past solar. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything to do about that except strength training to bring back my previous healthy state.

I glanced down at my arms. Where they used to bulge in all the right places, now they were stick-thin and flimsy. I missed my muscles.

When the ship juddered and I stumbled, Dorian caught me before I could fall. I couldn’t look at him, shame over my physical state and the cause behind it had heat flooding to my cheeks.

‘Come on,’ he said, guiding me away from the masses with Urman following a step behind. ‘Everyone’s on board, the doors are shut, the kids aren’t going anywhere and the ship’s about to take off. Let’s go check on Bromm.’

It was challenging work pushing through the crowd to move anywhere. No one had had the chance to settle in, so they were all congregated in the hallways. They were trying to spread out as much as possible, but with the children in the laundry carts there was still a significant crowd surrounding them as many attempted to nurture them the best they could.

This first part of the trip off of Nova Station would be the most difficult, without a doubt. Not only would they chase us, but no one had anything to do other than wander around aimlessly while they awaited orders.

It took far too long to reach the infirmary, especially considering it was so close the airlock door that had just sealed shut behind us. Luckily, the doorway wasn’t blocked and we were able to enter without any more fuss. I’d earned myself a couple of bruises on the way after getting jostled about by stray elbows and firm shoulders, so I took the opportunity to shake out the aches when there was enough space.

‘How is he?’ Urman asked Henrik. I would have asked myself, but I was more focused on the two glowing blue forms. I blinked as my brain tried to catch up. I’d seen Artemis glow before, but not Bromm…

She was hunched over his prone body, their glows matching as if from the same source, and her eyes were closed as she gripped his limp hand between hers. Beside them Cadmus had stayed close, his own body slumped forward as he sat against the side of Artemis’s chair almost as if he were asleep.

I squinted, wondering if the same blue glow was also emanating from him, but I discarded the errant thought as exhaustion catching up to me and focused on the pair that actually were glowing. It must have been merely a trick of the light, a visual echo from looking straight at the bright blue light from the other two.

Bromm had looked better. He was currently unconscious with a breathing device sticking out of his throat. We’d entered in time to watch Henrik attach wires to specific areas on Bromm’s body that made the machines around him beep and flash with information I didn’t know how to decipher.

The whole scene was such an odd sight, and I didn’t know where to begin to process it all. If I was honest with myself, I was still stuck on Artemis turning out to be a woman. I was kicking myself for not seeing it before. Now that I knew, it was so obvious looking back. There were so many little things that I’d dismissed as quirky or introverted behaviours that I now realised were attempts to hide her true form.

And this time a solar ago she never would have fucked one man, let alone two , in front of an entire group of people. Arthur Mercer was shy, quiet, and reserved. Artemis was the opposite, and I was having a tough time merging the two versions into one.

Perhaps that was my problem, though. Arthur Mercer was an act. Artemis was the real person, and I needed to get to know her as she was without any preconceived conceptions.

But I missed my friend and I wanted him back, and I couldn’t just turn that off. I knew Arty. I didn’t know Artemis. But did I want to?

Of course . That was never in question. Not really. I wanted to know her because despite forming a close bond with her alter ego, the best lies always carried a bit of truth. She hadn’t pulled the Arty persona out of her ass. Some part of that was the real her. I just needed to figure out which parts.

Already, I knew her self-sacrificing tendencies were genuine. And her strength. She’d tried (unsuccessfully) to hide that part of herself while undercover, but there was no need for her to do so now. I just hoped she could trust me enough to be herself without those damn walls getting in the way again.

If we could move forward without her guard up, that would be great, I mentally pleaded with the universe.

The bigger question was, could we move forward without my guard up? She had deceived us all, after all. How deep did that deception go?

I didn’t get the chance to mull those thoughts over because I was interrupted by the guard from before. The one who looked just like Foryk. I was too busy healing from the injuries I’d sustained at the hands of The Program’s scientists or being buried under a mountain of children to pay attention to the full scope of their relationship, but I had been able to deduce that they were related. Brothers, I would have wagered.

When the guard spoke, I was proven correct, though I was taken aback by the formal tone he used.

‘Foryk, your presence has been requested by Mother. She wishes for both her sons to be present for to uphold our traditions and honour Father.’

Foryk, whom I’d previously ignored in favour of studying the glowing pair, stood up and I noticed he held the blonde boy Artemis had saved in his arms. He passed him to me, and though I accepted the exchange I shot him a look that I hoped expressed my discomfort but he simply ignored me and left the room with his brother.

I looked down at the child in my arms. He was gazing up at me with big green eyes brimming with innocent wonder. Little fingers grappled at my face and tugged on my hair. I knew it was a matted mess and I hoped it was salvageable, but it would probably be even worse after this little guy was done with it.

‘Um, hi there,’ I said as those tiny digits somehow found their way both into my mouth and up my nostrils at the same time. ‘My name is Reece. What’s your name?’

‘Weese!’ he shouted with a smile as he slapped at my cheeks before shmooshing them.

I chuckled. ‘Well done! That’s my name. Can you tell me yours?’

‘Bal!’ he said, punctuating his answer with an excited clap. ‘I Bal!’

‘Well, Bal. It’s nice to meet you,’ I said, letting him mess with my face again. This time he seemed to take a particular interest in my ears. Specifically their pointed tips.

Suddenly, another tremor rocked the ship, except this one was much larger than the others. Those had been simple stops-and-starts while whomever piloted the ship got used to the controls. This one was more like a physical blow that was strong enough to topple us all over as we scrambled to keep ourselves steady. I had one hand over Bal’s head as I cradled him closer to my chest in an attempt to protect him.

Nova Station had mobilised, it seemed, for only one thing could have caused such a reaction.

We were under attack.

A hologram appeared over Bromm’s cot, and the familiar face of my old flight instructor filled the air. If I remembered correctly, her name was GC Stanson, but I could have been wrong.

‘Captain! Their ships are following us with fatal force. What are your orders?’

I expected Xander to step up and start barking instructions, so I was looked to him expectantly, surprised when he didn’t. It took a moment for me to process that they were all looking towards Artemis, and I realised our conundrum. This was Artemis’s ship which made her the captain.

And she was currently unresponsive.

‘Captain?’ GC Stanson prompted. ‘I need your orders.’

Xander finally stepped forward then and drew the GC’s attention. ‘Captain Artemis is currently… indisposed. I can speak for her.’ At the pilot’s nod, he continued. ‘Does this ship have weapons?’

‘It does, sir.’

‘Do we have anyone to control those weapons?’

‘Not currently, sir.’

‘Right. I’ll get someone on that ASAP, but you focus your efforts on getting us out of range. Understood?’

‘Understood, sir.’

‘A?’

The second voice startled all of us, and we each jumped and swivelled our heads to find its owner. Another hologram had appeared within the hologram, and the GC was gaping at the woman who had appeared beside her.

‘Who are you?’ she demanded.

The other hologram frowned. ‘Who are you? Where’s Artemis?’

‘She’s in here,’ Addy shouted, waving her arms to grab both holograms’ attention. ‘You must be Libby,’ she continued. ‘Arty’s fine, I promise. And we have Bal!’

She waved me towards her, and I moved to stand beside her and present the small boy but stumbled when another blow rocked the ship. I managed to put Bal down and before I could fall on him, and he immediately crawled to the large beast resting at Artemis’s feet.

I watched with growing unease as tiny fingers poked, probed, tugged and scratched at the large animal, but the creature wasn’t having it. It rose up to loom over the boy with a deep, rumbling growl that resonated throughout the room and vibrated my bones. And then my unease quickly morphed into morbid horror as the beast opened its red tooth-lined maw and lunged.

With a yell, we all moved at once to get between the boy and the beast. I heard shouting from the holograms as well but paid them no head as I focused all my efforts on scooping up the boy and getting as far away from the incensed animal as possible, all the while the others in the room had formed a barrier with their bodies, stumbling around when the ship was hit again in quick succession.

‘Hold on!’ the GC shouted as she turned her attention back to the ship’s controls. I couldn’t see what she was doing as only her head and shoulders were projected by the hologram, but I could see the way her brows dipped low and her tongue poked out, caught between her teeth. Her shoulders bunched and her head swivelled, and we were all suddenly thrown back as the ship lurched, the magnets creating the artificial gravity fighting to keep up with her erratic manoeuvres as we went momentarily weightless.

I held Bal to me with one arm while the other steadied us as best as I could, but we were being tossed about like salt in a shaker.

Luckily, Bromm was blocked in by the cot’s guard rails, so he wasn’t being tossed around quite like the rest of us, and I considered strapping Bal down with him to keep him secure throughout the worst of it.

But those thoughts were interrupted by suddenly Artemis leaping to her feet. She held onto the guard rail to steady herself as we were once again tossed about. Cadmus jerked from his previously slumped position at the sudden movement and I froze on that action. Why hadn’t he moved when the beast was trying to attack Bal?

‘What the hell is going on here?’ she snapped, taking in the chaos and snapping me out of my thoughts.

‘A?’ the second hologram called out.

Artemis twisted towards her voice. ‘Libby?’

‘Is now not a good time?’

Another hit caused Artemis to almost faceplant before she caught herself on the chair. Fortunately for her, it was bolted to the floor for instances just like this.

‘Are you okay?’ asked the other woman.

‘I’m fine! I’ll call you back in a tick, okay?’ Artemis yelled over the shouts bursting through from the soldiers and babies in the hallway. The hologram dispersed, blocking off the second one of her friend. Artemis reached out to support Dorian as he lost his balance and tilted precariously.

We stayed put as we waited for the hits to finally cease. I was crouched to cover Bal’s body, shielding him with my own in case something fell. The beast was cowering beneath Bromm’s cot who was nice and secure on top. Adara, Urman and Henrik were clinging to the only other chair in the room, and Artemis was practically hugging Dorian in her attempts to keep him upright while Cadmus was wrapped around Artemis, using her as a pillar in a way that seemed like he was also protecting her.

That was a new development, but after what I’d witnessed during their… act of intimacy , I wasn’t completely surprised. Just mostly. Cadmus had never struck me as the type to settle down.

Eventually, the blows stopped coming and the ship levelled out again right as the GC’s voice crackled over the speaker system. ‘That’s the worst of it over, folks. The enemy are no longer on our tail.’

Our sighs of relief came too soon, however, because as soon as the GC’s voice cut out Bal let out an excited squeal and reached with grabby hands in the beast’s direction. The beast that had clearly had enough of the tiny Terran boy because he let out another bone-rattling growl and we all jumped into action.

‘ Dave. Junior. ’ Artemis’s voice cut through the tension. Shocking the shit out of me – and the rest of us, if their gawping was any indication – the thing actually backed down.

‘You are in so much trouble, mister,’ she chastised, and he actually cowered back beneath the cot. He attempted to lick her hand, but when she didn’t react beyond resting her hands on her hips he covered his many eyes with his paws and let out a pathetic little whimper.

When Bal let out another squeal, Dave Junior (I would have to ask her why she chose that name out of all the possibilities out there) moved his giant paws away from his eyes just far enough to glare at the little blonde boy.

It was then that I started to question just what we’d gotten ourselves into.