Page 18 of Redeeming Captivity (Human Pets of Talin #7)

Chapter 18

Tarquin

They should get moving. The explosion would draw attention to this area, but he needed to hold Lena for a moment. He’d spent marks coming to terms with his death, and suddenly he was alive and free, and it was all thanks to Lena.

This human was a marvel. He’d heard about the exploits of the other humans like Lakin, Zia, and Nalia, but he hadn’t truly believed them. He knew the humans were clever and stronger than they looked, but he’d assumed Dalt, Palforma, and Derani were exaggerating. After all that Lena accomplished, he was forced to admit that the warriors were probably telling the absolute truth.

Lena let him hug her for only a submark before pushing at his shoulder.

“Go!” she reminded him.

They could hear the emergency bots moving around the building. They’d already put out a fire and others would be here soon to search the wreckage for the injured.

Right, they needed to leave. He let go of her and sat back, looking up at the sky. The position of the sun gave him a rough idea of the time.

“We won’t make it to the pickup spot on foot,” he declared. “We need one of the bigger transports that can make it over the large boulders.”

She shook her head. “All gone.”

That made him realize he couldn't see a single ground vehicle anywhere. Where had they all gone?

“That’s going to be a problem,” he muttered. The sound of yelling voices and loud rattles of surprise made them both jerk.

“Port?”

“That’s probably our best option,” he agreed. The port would have all kinds of transportation options.

Wrapping his arms around her, he moved onto his knees then stood up.

“Down,” Lena demanded.

“We’re going to travel faster this way,” he countered, cradling her against his chest. She made a grumbly sound but settled down in his arms.

It was good that Jafinium forced him to walk the entire base during his “inspection.” Between his basic knowledge of the base’s layout and Lena’s pointing, they made it to the port without anyone noticing. It helped that there were so few soldiers still on base and many of them were at Jafinium’s house.

Reaching the edge of the port, he found a spot between two buildings and set Lena down. The area contained only half the machines and equipment he’d seen yesterday. He was shocked at how much had been shipped out in such a short time.

“He’s sending it all to Ossiso space for the civil war,” he said. “That was his plan all along. That's why such a prestigious general agreed to take a less advantageous assignment. The distance, lack of oversight, and growing conflict among the Ossiso gave him everything he needed.”

Lena hummed in agreement, but didn't look at him. She was busy examining the port for a vehicle. It was something he should’ve been doing.

“There,” she said, pointing at a rock-walker.

The narrow body of the rock-walker didn’t look awkward while its ten long, thin legs were folded under it, but when it was standing on those spindly, mechanical limbs it looked like it was defying physics. If the vehicle could hold more than a single Talin at a time, it would’ve been the perfect mode of transportation on Wulnum. The telescoping legs could easily shorten or length to maintain a steady height of the body.

There were several rows of them, and by his quick calculation there had to be around a hundred. It seemed that they were the only vehicle not being sent off-world.

It would be tight, but the two of them should be able to fit in one.

“The only problem is that they can be tracked,” he said, realizing the flaw in their plan. It might take them a little while to realize that he wasn’t in the building, but once they did, Jafinium would send search bots out and track every vehicle. There would be no hiding this time.

She nodded but then swept her hand out to indicate the rows of rock-walkers then pointed at the port’s control center.

He sounded an inquisitive rumble. “I don’t understand.”

“Program,” she said, pointing at the rock-walkers then the port’s control center. Then she wiggled her fingers and moved her hands in different directions. “Program!”

Understanding dawned. “You want to give each rock-walker a different destination to go to so the base personnel will waste time tracking them all down.”

He looked to the port’s control center. It looked like a small building but he knew from his earlier tour there was a large subterranean section where most of the equipment and personnel were located. He could only hope the control center would be as short staffed as the rest of the base.

“I’m going in,” he said, making up his mind. This was really the only way to get to the pickup spot without kidnapping a pilot and being flown out to the ship. That would be a backup plan, but it was even worse because most pilots were probably loyal to Jafinium and would rather fight to the death than help him escape.

She nodded her head and pulled Jafinium’s ceremonial dagger out. “Ready.”

He sounded a negative rattle. “I need you to stay here. I can’t afford to be flanked when I’m in there. You need to give me a signal if someone enters.”

She frowned but nodded in agreement, tucking the dagger back.

She dug around in her bag and pulled out his belt with his pouch and Ident attached. He was surprised and relieved to see it and was belting it on when she pulled out a code-switching comm.

She held it up then pointed to his Ident. He pulled the Ident off his belt and took the comm from her. It only took a moment to link them so she’d be able to contact him directly. Handing back the comm, he made sure his Ident was on display only setting then re-clipped it to his belt. It would light up with her messages but wouldn’t chime. The last thing he needed was for it to make a noise while sneaking up on someone.

“This’ll work,” he said. “Don’t be elaborate with the message, just say something like incoming.”

She nodded and clipped the code-switch to her tensile-twine belt.

Taking Lena’s hands in his, he waited for her to meet his gaze. “Promise me that you’ll stay hidden.”

She gave him a single, short nod. He paused, interpreting that move.

“You’re agreeing but only if I’m not in danger?” he asked.

She looked surprised at his words and gave him a full nod.

“You shouldn’t be shocked,” he said, with an amused rumble. “You speak more eloquently with a look and gesture than most do with all the words in their possession. Your body is poetry, brave Lena.”

Her mouth formed a little O and she blinked rapidly. Then she threw her arms around him and held tight.

“Love you,” she whispered.

“You’re my scent-bonded partner,” he responded. “I would shrivel and die without you.”

She pulled away and pointed a finger at him. “Not today.”

“No dying today,” he agreed. “If anyone gets close, there is a small crawl space over there,” he said, gesturing to a spot where several boulders were piled up. I doubt anyone will notice you with all the commotion going on.”

Instead of looking at the boulders, she leaned forward to give him a quick lip-press. He wanted to deepen the kiss, but she pulled away and scooted off his lap. Dipping her hands in the pockets of her coat, she pulled out cartridges for the weapon hooked to her belt. She dumped them in his lap then handed him the gun.

“I’m impressed with your choice of weapon,” he praised her, checking it for any issues. The current cartridge was out so he ejected it and loaded a fresh one then handed it back. “I wish I could take it with me, but the way port buildings are constructed means a round would ricochet several times before either lodging in someone or losing momentum.”

She dug around in her bag again and produced another item. He recognized it immediately.

“Is this how you caused Jafinium’s house to destruct?” he asked.

She made a happy hum and handed it to him, then dug out another two to give him.

He tucked the others in his pouch and kept one out. “These will make it easy,” he said. “I might not even have to fight.”

She gave him a grin and tucked the weapon back in her belt and the cartridges in her pockets. He’d never seen a human wielding a weapon before and it was causing mixed feelings. Part of him was proud of Lena. She’d done something he thought was impossible: rescued him.

The other part of him was disquieted to see a delicate human covered in Talin blood with a military dagger and projectile weapon tucked in her belt. Humans weren’t meant to fight. They were small and soft, poorly suited to survive in a harsh universe. Yet here was Lena, marked with the enemy’s blood and ready to spill more.

“You’re magnificent,” he murmured. The smile that exploded across her face was brilliant at the same time her cheeks pinkened.

“Go,” she said, with a little shove at his shoulder.

With a rumble of agreement, he stood. “When this is all over, we’re going to spend rotations together someplace where no one can bother us.”

He made his way from between the buildings to a transport that must’ve been hit by a boulder before the ion shield went up. Half the vehicle was flattened, with the boulder still resting on top of it.

Kneeling next to the back of the vehicle, he programmed the charge in his hand then tucked it beneath the transport, right under the power coil.

Looking around, he sprinted to the comms building. Tucking himself as best he could at the side of the small structure, he waited. It didn’t take long for the charge to finish the countdown and explode. The coil of the vehicle enhanced the explosion to the point that the boulder was sent rolling into another building.

He hadn’t expected that and thanked the ancestors that the building wasn’t one of the ones Lena was hiding between.

As he hoped, the comms door slid open and two men rushed out. The moment they cleared the door, he moved. He was inside before the door had a chance to close. It was dim inside the building and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. Once he could see clearly, he moved down the short ramp that led to the lower level. There was only one man there, hunched over a display and speaking rapidly.

Knowing he had limited time, Tarquin rushed across the room and tackled him to the floor.

Using his larger size, he held the male down with his weight while winding his arms around the man’s neck. Forcing the man’s neck back, he pressed a knee into the man's upper back. It took a full submark, but the man finally went limp.

Once the comms engineer was unconscious, he looked around for something to secure the man with. He wouldn’t stay out for long, and Tarquin didn’t want him getting in the way.

There wasn’t much in the room, but a pile of discarded materials gave him several coils of transmission cords. With deft movements, he tied the man's hands and feet. It was a relief not to have to kill this man. He wasn’t ready to kill his fellow Talins if they didn’t attack him first.

He went to the first display and tapped until he found the ground transport menu. He wasn’t skilled with this technology, so he was clumsy sending orders to all the ground transports, but eventually the display lit up with hundreds of dots sent off in all directions of random locations he selected from the map.

He was quick to select one of the rock-walkers and assigned it to the pickup location with a departure delay. It was enough time that he and Lena should be able to board before it left. And it would be one of the last ones to start up so it would be easy to find.

Straightening up, he brought his fists down on the display, causing irreparable damage. Then he did the same thing to all the other displays. It wouldn’t stop port control completely, but it would slow them down as they networked new machines.

Checking on the engineer, he found the man starting to wake. It was time to leave. Rushing back up the ramp, he stopped at the entrance. Standing to the side, he signaled the door to open. Looking out he saw several men gathered around the burning transport but many others were shouting as transports started up and moved in all different directions. Large ground transports were even rolling over some of the smaller buildings because he’d removed the safety protocols by accident.

Oh well, no one would be sleeping at this time of day and it would add to the chaos.

He left the port control building and tucked himself behind a small ground transport until it passed by a building and he could switch hiding spots. Keeping to the small areas between the buildings, he made his way back to Lena, only to freeze in place halfway there.

“Tarquin!” Jafinium’s voice bellowed. “I have the human. Come out or she dies.”