Page 42

Garnet

T hey disconnected from Tin-Fallow that same day. They still had time before they needed to start the swing to reach Hir-Fallow station to start the ship upgrade, but they wanted to get away from that place. Almost definitely because of the dead body that was nothing but ash now – which she had been dully informed about by Alred when he reported that Vytln had completed his job.

Honestly, Garnet slept like a baby that night. Knowing that Gissrn, the one after them, who paid to have them taken and had been hunting them this entire time, was dead, was a relief. Knowing how slowly and painfully he died seemed like justice.

Goldie was of a mind to agree with her. She could be just as ruthless as Garnet and knew even better than her that a mad dog needed to be put down.

“Serves him right,” she said primly, frowning as she focused on the mediring console. “Alred? Can you bring up the tutorial again? I think I’m missing a step.”

“On your left,” Alred said, another holodisplay popping up.

Garnet drummed her hands flat on her belly, toes bouncing in time to music that Goldie was playing on low in the medbay.

Goldie had really claimed this space as her own. She might still be learning things, but the title of official medical officer looked good on her. She had her hair up in her thinking bun and everything. It was good to see her so focused.

“I have to admit, I’ve been feeling guilty,” Garnet said softly.

“Huh?” Goldie frowned, looking up at her. “About what?”

“Asking you to stay.”

“Ugh, this again,” Goldie rolled her eyes. She popped a hip, resting her hand on it. “I told you, everyone in my class would have given their left ovary to be where I am. If anyone found out I had a chance to study alien medicine and passed it up, they would have beaten me with socks full of coins. And that includes my professors! I’m sure the student loan people are pissed, but I’m also sure the interest rates everyone else is still stuck with will comfort them at night. Now, hush. I’m trying to focus, and your foolishness is distracting me.”

Garnet smiled as she quieted down, letting Goldie go back to her mumbling as she tried to figure out the next step in this scan.

The report they got from Alred after they finally came down from the upper bridge told her how Gissrn and the others managed to get in. Everyone except Sway and Goldie had been out in the station. Sway was down in his room, taking a moment to relax, while Goldie had been here in medbay, doing exactly this – trying to learn the scanning machine.

Rok was caught by surprise from behind, the collar put around his neck, giving Neelai control over him. With that, he used Rok to capture Trove. Rok and Trove caught Vytln, then all three of them worked together to get the twins. Neelai managed to get into the docking tunnel using some kind of fancy code breaker to put in the passcode.

Vytln was the one they sent to the door. The way he stood, like his huge arms were too heavy for his body, meant that he stooped a bit. That position hid his neck just long enough for Alred to see him. And since Vytln was the silent, brooding type anyway, he hadn’t been acting abnormally. Alred saw him through the cameras and let him in, thinking he was alone.

Vytln then stepped into the door and stood there, keeping it from closing, as the others ran down the hall to join him.

That was when Alred realized something was wrong. He cut power to the mediring, catching Goldie’s attention, and ordered her to get to the shelter room. It was the only room on the ship that could not be opened without Alred’s permission once locked. The regular ship AI that took over when Alred was in his core could be forced to bypass any emergency lock but that one. It was also impenetrable to scans or any searching equipment. That also meant comm signals couldn’t send through there, either in or out, so they hadn’t been able to get in contact with her.

While Goldie was running to shelter, Alred alerted Sway about the others. However, there was nothing he could do. Unlike Tanin, Sway couldn’t take on everyone at once. The best he could do was give Alred enough time to route the wire he needed into the stowage room and send Tanin the message that they had been compromised.

By the time Sway had the collar forced on him, Gissrn was already inside, looking for Garnet and Goldie, but it was too late. Goldie was safely in the shelter room – which was hidden unless you knew where the entrance was – while Alred locked himself in his core so he couldn’t be found.

After that, it was just a matter of waiting. Tanin would deal with the rest.

Which he did. Effortlessly. Ruthlessly.

Garnet still liked to remember how strong he looked while taking on his entire crew. There was a reason he was feared on Rik-Vane. She asked Alred if she could have a copy of the security footage. She knew he had them. The cameras were recording even if he was in his core. Unfortunately, since that particular event involved murder, Alred had completely destroyed the recordings and created something fake to take their place. According to their security records, that day, Sway stayed in his room the entire time, Goldie never left medbay, while Garnet and Tanin returned late and went right to their room to ‘sleep’ their harrowing time off.

The artificial images, he promised, would hold up well under all but the harshest scrutiny. He was very good at faking things like that, he assured her. But she, unfortunately, couldn’t have a copy of Tanin kicking butt to fawn over later.

A shame, but an understandable one.

The rest of that day had gone exactly as Tanin ordered. Trove cleaned the blood away with some very harsh chemicals, ensuring not a trace remained. Rok took Neelai from the ship and got his promise that nothing else would happen from this – and since Neelai was only an employee and a bounty hunter just trying to get his job done, it wasn’t a hard stretch for him to agree. Vytln dealt with Gissrn’s body, and the twins made sure no evidence remained on Tin-Fallow.

Garnet had no idea how they did it. They just assured everyone that it was done, and no one asked questions. The twins were good at sneaking around and getting shit done.

One by one, between tasks, everyone made their way to medbay so Goldie could heal them. It was her first real test run as a healer. Rok had his hand wound treated on the station when they arrived since that required a much deeper level of skill than she possessed, but his face wounds and neck burn were good practice for her. For this, they could leave no evidence, so Goldie had to do it.

And according to everyone, she did well. It took her longer than a professional would have, and she had to learn how to turn off the pain receptors to make healing go smoothly, but once she figured that out, there weren’t any further bumps. She couldn’t heal without scarring, but she could heal back to full functionality, and that was all the guys needed.

And now, Garnet was once again playing guinea pig as Goldie tried to figure things out. It really just involved a lot of lying there and waiting as Goldie mumbled to herself and asked Alred to show her something.

Until, finally-

“I got it!”

Garnet, who had been daydreaming at that point, focused back on her sister as she danced in place, happy with her victory.

“You figured it out?”

“I did!”

“Well? Don’t leave me in suspense? What’s the result?”

“It’s a scan, not a test. There’s no result, there’s a reading.”

“There’s going to be an obnoxious know-it-all on the floor in a minute. What’s the reading?! ”

“Hold on. I’m savoring the moment.”

“Goldie!”

Her sister laughed. “Calm your tits. You might upset the baby.”

Garnet let out a cry, covering her mouth with her hands as Goldie laughed, bouncing in place.

“You’re kidding!”

“I’m not!”

“I’m-?”

“You are!”

Garnet screamed, bouncing on the bed. Goldie screamed, spinning in a happy circle. Alred screamed, appearing beside her and doing the same. Goldie laughed, shoving him. His light form couldn’t be touched, of course, but he pretended to be sent flying into the wall as though hit by an enormously strong force.

Garnet threw her legs over the side of the bed. The rings flashed at her, mad she was escaping, before quickly jumping to the head of the bed as Garnet stood. She ran, throwing her arms around Goldie. The two of them laughed and screamed in excitement as they bounced around. All around them, Alred was popping off little fireworks that made Garnet laugh harder while Goldie oohed in appreciation for the display.

Garnet was pregnant. It was still super early, but Goldie finally learned how to get the scan that precise in order to find out. It was a big step for her.

And a huge step for Garnet and Tanin. She couldn’t wait to go tell him!