“Reading my mind again?” His fingers trailed through her short hair as he ruffled it until it stood up. She loved when he did that.
“Nope, you’re broadcasting so loud right now I can’t not hear it.” Even though she could hear what he was thinking, she wanted him to say it when he was ready.
“That doesn’t surprise me.” His deep sigh made her hand bob as his chest moved. “I don’t want this to end. Some days we feel perfect for each other, and other days we’re too busy trying to survive that we forget about the little things. I’ll always want to be in the middle of the fight because that’s where you’ll be. I know it’s not safe. Any day, ARI or Crimson could capture or kill me regardless if I’m at V-Five or hiding away at a safe house in No Woman’s Land.”
Bash turned and kissed her forehead.
“I want to throw you over my shoulder and carry you off to the most secluded place I can find. We could hide away for the rest of our days and spend every second making love, but we wouldn’t be happy. As amazing as it sounds, I know we would go stir crazy. We’re both fighters, different kinds of fighters, but still. Neither of us could live safely tucked away from the war while our friends died. Our relationship will never be easy, but I believe we can make this work.”
Freya’s face tilted until her lips met his. She’d meant it to be a soft, quick kiss, but the moment their lips touched, Bash growled and deepened the kiss. His fingers sank into her hair, pulling her close until the kiss was almost painful and desperate.
“That and there’s nowhere else we could go.” Unable to stop herself, she spoke as her fingers slid across his hard chest, taking in every inch of rippling muscle. His right arm scooped her up until she sat straddling his hips. Through the soft cotton of his shorts she loved, his cock pressed against her core. She sighed into his mouth as she rubbed herself against his hardness.
“What?” Bash’s husky voice pulled her away from the pleasure building between her legs.
“Huh?”
“You said there was nowhere else, what did you mean by that?” His hands grasped her hips, refusing to let them move.
She sat up and scrubbed her face with a hand. “I’ve checked out all the maps and read all the reports. The city is the only developed land there is. Outside that, there’s a few hundred kilometers of wilderness where the Resistance and the Patriots have set up bases and camps, but there’s not another city.”
“What’s past No Woman’s Land?”
“Just a lot of water that eventually loops back. Most surface area in our world is water, and the government mapped all of it. There’s nothing in or under the water that’s beneficial aside from the mining operations, which is why you see so little information about water travel.”
“Actually, I’ve never heard of any.”
“That’s because they can’t monitor everything that happens. I found a redacted report of what appears to be the ruins of an underdeveloped city. It’s north of Ray’Nia Base, but the only way we could access it would be by water. We only have two facilities that have water travel capabilities and even then, I’m not sure how feasible it would be.”
“We should at least look at it, right?” The look in his eyes told her the moment was over. He was a man on a mission, and nothing would deter him.
With a heavy sigh, she crawled off him and walked over to the wall display. It lit up as soon as she got close enough and she pulled up all the info related to the old city she knew about. Building designs, city plans, and reports scattered across the screen as she stepped back for him to see. The couch was in viewing distance, so she dropped onto it, watching his face light up.
Without a single hand gesture, everything displayed moved around with new images opening and closing faster than she could register. This recent development with the AI scared her. Aside from almost killing her, she didn’t know how capable ERIC was or how in control Bash would be. She wondered if Bash understood the complications that could arise from artificial intelligence.
“Right there.” Bash pointed at the screen as he faced her. “This confirms everything you’ve been saying. Mind you, it won’t be enough if we leak it to the public, but it’s the start we need.”
“The city?” Freya approached the screen and read over everything.
“Yes, and we don’t even need to visit the city.”
Unable to follow his line of thought, she faced him. “Start from the beginning.”
He pulled her to the couch, and they sat facing each other. “Sorry, sometimes I forget you can’t hear everything going on in my mind. ERIC was digging through the database searching for anything that matched the city, whether that was keywords or unique shapes from the city plans. He found a few misfiled documents.”
He? Was it Bash or ERIC that had chosen the pronoun? A few of the images on the screen flashed to the top, distracting her from the thought. He enlarged them so she could read from the couch. She’d ask Bash about ERIC later.
“These three diagrams right here confirm that there is more out there besides this world. The government completely mapped the planet we’re on, inside and out.” His eyes flicked to the screen, then back to her. “It also confirms other planets nearby and communications with an unknown off world entity.”
This was an impressive start, but he was right. They needed more evidence to do any damage. Her mother could cover up these couple of documents as fabricated conspiracy theories.
“ERIC?” She assumed the AI could hear her.
Numbers and letters scrolled down the wall display, and until the familiar face appeared. “Freya.”
A weird moment of silence passed between them, like they were studying each other for reactions from the earlier attack. Not sure what ERIC’s motivations were, she hoped it was as simple as basic survival. Bash created and housed ERIC. If something happened to him, then the AI would be at risk too. At least, that’s what she told herself as she moved forward.
“Can you access my handheld?”
ERIC’s eyes shifted to Bash, then back to her. “Yes.”
“Please review all the files inside a hidden folder labeled, ‘The Burning of Rome’.”
“That’s an odd name.” Bash said the same time as ERIC nodded, then disappeared.
“It comes from the ancient saying of ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned in one’.”
“Ooh, dark. I love it.”
She shot him a mischievous grin, and ERIC’s face reappeared. “It’s done.”
“Okay, upload that to Bash while I round everyone up.” Bash whistled at Freya as she approached the door to the hallway. “What?”
“I love the way you look wearing only my t-shirt, but I’m not sure everyone else will.”
Heat washed over her face as she remembered she wasn’t wearing pants. Pulling it over her head, she chucked it into Bash’s face then dressed in fresh clothes. After slipping her feet into boots, they automatically tightened to the perfect size, and she sprinted out of the room.
A quick sprint down the hallway led her to Tris’Tyn’s room. Her hand hovered over the chime that would alert him someone was here. Earlier, he’d wanted time to digest everything that happened earlier, but he also wanted an active role in the Resistance. Before she could second guess herself, she called for him.
The door slid open on a hiss and Tris’Tyn stood in the doorway, a pained expression on his face. His normally tanned gold skin was pale and clammy. Bracing against the doorway, his body trembled.
“Tris’Tyn?”
“Hey there twin.” A halfhearted smile crossed his face before it fell. “What can I do for you?”
“Are you okay?” She wanted to reach out to him, but wasn’t sure what his boundaries were.
“I’m fine, just a health condition acting up.” He mopped sweat off his face with a cloth. “What’s up?”
Hair stood up on the back of her neck as a suspicion tickled her brain. “We discovered some new info and wanted to present it to vital members.”
“You lead the way.” Tris’Tyn stepped forward, then his knees buckled. Unable to hold his much larger frame, she grabbed him, helping break the fall.
Bash, something is wrong with Tris’Tyn. I need your help. She sent the thought to him, then turned her focus back to her twin. With a grunt, she pushed him onto his side.
One of his arms lashed out, connecting with her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Then the rest of his body seized. Not sure what else to do, she grabbed her handheld and tried to run a health scan on him while staying out of his way.
“What happened?” Bash’s voice behind her made her jump.
“I have no idea. He answered the door looking sick, then he fell to the ground and started seizing. The only thing he mentioned was he had a medical condition that was acting up, but he didn’t say what kind.”
“Damn.”
A brief silence hung between them until Bash reached towards Tris’Tyn. The skin on the cybernetic arm folded open and a long probe slid out. On the end was a round suction cup looking attachment. Stunned, Freya couldn’t find the words to ask what he was doing. Instead, she watched as it landed on Tris’Tyn’s shoulder for a few seconds, then recoiled back into Bash’s arm. The skin slid closed, like a weird robot arm hadn’t just slithered out of it.
“He’s going through drug withdrawals.” Bash hissed with a cold, hard look in his eyes. Tris’Tyn’s body went limp. Pulling out his handheld, he tapped on the screen a few times and pulled out the injector pen. Kneeling closer to the now still body, he slid the retractable needle into Tris’Tyn’s thigh, pressed a button on the side, then returned it to the handheld.
“Will he be okay?”
Bash slid Tris’Tyn’s arm over his shoulder, heaving him up into a fireman’s carry over his shoulders. “Come on, everyone needs to hear what they did to him.”
Gu’Lani Resistance Colony: Tris’Tyn
A jarring motion snapped him awake. Bright light invaded his senses when he opened his eyes. Nausea slammed into him as reality spun around him. Something cold and hard bit into his arm, and a few seconds later everything calmed inside of him.
“Tris’Tyn, how are you feeling?” Freya’s voice grated his nerves as she said his name. He hated that name. A memory of the several women from the camp saying his name before doing awful things to him flashed through his mind before he crawled out of the deep dark hole that threatened to swallow him whole.
“Don’t call me that.” He wasn’t ready to open his eyes, so he said it with no idea who else was in the room with him.
“Uh, what should we call you?” Freya’s voice again.
“Tris.” A hand landed on his shoulder, and his eyes popped open as he flinched away.
They were in the same control room as when he’d found out Freya was his sister. Her hand was a few inches from him, and she looked at him with wide eyes. Next to her stood a tall man with long brown hair, brown eyes, and tawny skin. The name Bash popped into his head as he remembered this was his sister’s male. That wasn’t right, she’d said they chose each other.
Standing in the corner was a man with chin length curly black hair with bits of grey throughout it and his beard. Scars scattered all over his face and neck. None of them were horrible, but definitely drew attention. That must be the blow-them-all-up guy.
Off in another direction was a woman with purple eyes and short brown hair holding the hand of a guy several inches taller than her with burning grey eyes, short jet black hair, and a well-kept beard. If his memory was accurate, the woman was Nova, but he didn’t know either of the guy’s names.
“How are you feeling?” Freya’s voice snapped his attention back to his twin sister. Her hair was shorter than his own, her purple eyes reminding him she’d seen her own horrors. It was a shame she’d come by when she did. He’d almost found the peace he’d been looking for his entire life.
“I’m feeling better.” Hoping none of them knew what had happened, he committed to his original story of a medical condition. “What did you do?”
“I gave you a burst of adrenaline and a few other things. It’s the same thing the doctor used to give me when I had reactions or withdrawals to the drugs they had me on. Which leads me to the next discovery.” Bash shot him a hard look that gave Tris the feeling that they’d have words later. “They’ve changed the formula. Either this is a variant of the one they dosed me with for many years, or they made some adjustments after my escape. This isn’t just an addiction he’s dealing with. They made him entirely dependent and without it, he’ll die.”
Shit, how did he figure that out? Tris kept the string of curses under his breath as Bash revealed his dirty little secret.
One night almost a year ago, Jes’Nara had slipped into his cabin and injected him before he could react. Within seconds his body was seizing as he’d fallen to the floor. The drug mutated his DNA to where his cells would start breaking down without them, or so Jes’Nara told him.
To prove her point, one day Jes’Nara had refused to give him the weekly injection. Four days after the missed dose, he’d collapsed and almost died because his body started tearing itself apart. Since then, he had to bow to her every wish, or risk dying. Twice he’d told her to fuck off, that he didn’t care if he died. She’d wait until he was on the verge of death and then inject him with a fraction of the dose, just enough to postpone death for a few hours so he could relive the experience on repeat until he gave into her demands.
A shudder wracked through him at the memories, bringing him back to the room full of strangers. He looked at every single one of them, trying to figure out if they suspected he’d known what would happen. Bash knew. Tris’Tyn could see the pity in his eyes, but he had his own questions for the man when that conversation happened. Fire burned in the blow-it-all-up guy’s eyes. Everyone else didn’t look like they had a clue.
“Before we do anything else, we have to find a solution to this. I should be able to create some kind of internal pump anchored under your skin and refilled on a less frequent basis than the injections.”
“Is this why you called us to a meeting?” Nova asked Freya.
“No, this just happened.” Freya gave Bash an intense look for several seconds before she walked over to the wall and waved her hand. There was something going on between them, like they could communicate through a single look. “Bash and I found some important information.”
As her hand neared the wall, it lit up. While he’d seen displays like that before, none of them were anywhere near this size. Images and reports popped up, lining up around the border of the screen. The technology here was amazing.
“There used to be a city before the one we know of now.”
“What, where?” Alastor cut in.
“It’s north of the current city, but they abandoned it around the time of the virus. Reports at the time say it was a tactical move to condense the women into safety, then they shipped any men that were still alive out to the old city to spend the rest of their days until the virus claimed them. According to the paperwork, the men died out, and the government left the city to ruins.”
“Do we know that for sure?” The man with Nova spoke up.
“We don’t, but it would be impossible for us to get there. While ARI doesn’t really patrol the area of No Woman’s Land that the Resistance occupies, there is an impenetrable border wall that runs from behind Ray’Nia base all the way to the waterline. If we wanted to go, we’d have to make it through the most secure section of the inner-city, or go the opposite direction and use water craft from one of our few colonies that has them. While they don’t monitor a good portion of the water, the mining operations surrounding the beaches that give access to the old city are secure.”
“In other words, not an option.” The man concurred.
“Right, but this led to the discovery of a few misfiled documents. The information from those plus the fragmented files from the computer virus I dropped at Ray’Nia, gives us a clear idea of what’s happening.”
“It’s the fucking aliens, isn’t it?” The scarred, curly haired man shouted.
“As much as it hurts for me to agree with you, yes. We already know that the Sovereign is a single woman instead of the Oligarchy it’s portrayed as. The unknown entity that has been giving orders to her, we’ve surmised, isn’t from this planet. We don’t yet know the alien’s intentions or what orders are being passed along.”
“Wait a minute, did you say aliens?” A ringing noise erupted in his ears as his brain ground to a halt.
“Yes. I don’t know how in the loop you were to rumor circles, but this has been a conspiracy theory since the original idea of space travel before the rocket testing failed. According to this information, there is some kind of invisible shield keeping us in and others out.”
Her voice got lost in the swirling madness inside his mind. He’d been right, there was more out there. Another chance at life. Squashing down the hope, he reminded himself that just because it was real, didn’t mean he’d ever get the chance to experience it.
“What are we going to do about it?” The words burst out of him before he realized he’d interrupted someone.
All eyes turned to him, but Freya and Nova spoke over each other until he couldn’t understand either. Freya shot a glare at Nova, then resumed speaking while Nova crossed her arms.
“We’re handing you over to ARI.”
Gu’Lani Resistance Colony: Freya
“Freya! You can’t say shit like that.” Bash scolded her.
“What?” She looked around at everyone glaring at her. “That’s what we’re doing.”
With a flat hand, Bash gestured for her to stop talking. “If I’m translating crazy woman speak correctly, she means we’ll give ARI what they will think is you.” He pulled the cloaking device out of his pocket and showed it to the room. “With a DNA sample, I can appear to be you. They can hand me disguised as you over to ARI.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Tris’Tyn scratched his forehead with his thumbnail.
“I was getting to that.” Freya mumbled as she crossed her arms.
“Yeah, but you almost gave the man a heart attack. Hell, I speak Freya and my heart jumped at what you said.”
“We won’t be giving you to them either.” Freya countered with a grin. The man was sexy, smart, and dangerous. Hopefully she’d work up the courage for her little surprise she’d thought of.
“Wait, what?” Bash’s head shot around to stare at her.
Rolling her eyes, she elaborated. “You didn’t let me finish. I have Brigadier General Sorasta’s private line. Once you’re disguised, we will meet Sorasta at a neutral location and act like we will give you up as a sign of good faith.”
“And how does that work?” Bash’s eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.
Freya pulled up a location on the wall display. “Right here in the outer-city. It’s far enough from the inner-city that our sources will know how much backup she has and not so far that she’ll expect the double cross.”
“What makes you think she won’t just arrest all of us?” Nova argued.
“Me, I’m the reason Sorasta can’t arrest us. The Sovereign knows exactly where I am most of the time, and just enough about what’s going on around me that I’m still an asset. She won’t give that up and Sorasta knows it. Unfortunately, Jes’Nara wasn’t high enough in rank to be in the loop, so we lost another colony.”
Cay rubbed Nova’s back at the reminder of their comrades.
“We have an abandoned building right next to the meeting spot, so she can write off the encounter as a raid. Once Bash is close enough, we can attack, and take her handheld.”
And that’s when ERIC can trace the network back and hopefully grab something useful. She sent the thought to Bash because she didn’t want Nova to know about his new skills yet.
“What about O’Paka, how will she feel when you attack her mother?” Nova spoke up again.
“Grateful. Sorasta should have never been a mother. If you could see a fraction of the harm she’s done to O’Paka, you’d understand.”
“I don’t like it.” Nova shook her head and leaned against a console.
“You don’t have a better plan, I’ve looked.” The glare didn’t phase her one bit. “We’re past the days of minor attacks here and there to weaken ARI. We’ve lost several colonies over the last year. They’ve dug themselves so deep into our infrastructure, not even the Resistance can find which camps have been infected with Patriots. If we keep fighting like we’ve been, the Resistance will fall.”
“A suicide mission won’t fix that!”
“Right now we don’t have the luxury of playing it safe. I’m willing to make the sacrifice, and so is Bash.” She glanced at the man who’d stolen her heart. They might not get along all the time, but she knew it would be better to have him now instead of never again. No one knew when they would die, so might as well live the best life possible until then, even if the thought of surviving him made her sick all over.
“Fine, but volunteers only.” Nova stormed out of the room, Cay followed muttering apologies.
“Let me guess, there’s a male maximum on this?” Alastor growled in his usual surly way.
“Yup. Because if this mission goes wrong, we don’t want them to get more than one of you, and there’s an excellent chance it will.”
“Figures.” Alastor stomped toward the door, pausing right before the sensor picked him up. A long glance back at them had Freya wishing she could read his thoughts more than ever. His mouth opened slightly, then he shook his head. “Don’t die.” Then he left.
“I wish I could help.” Tris’Tyn’s deep, silky voice snapped her attention back from Alastor’s thoughtful words.
“Did they let you do anything at the camp?” Bash asked.
“Not really, mostly I read and took a lot of walks in my free time.”
“When we get back, we’ll help you find something.” Freya smiled, her heart skipped in anticipation. “But there is something you can do right now.”
“Oh?” Tris’Tyn tugged on his ear. “What’s that?”
Freya cleared her throat as her hands shook. Slipping one into her vest, she grasped the silky scrap of fabric and pulled it out. Her stomach twisted as she tried to get the words out. Not long after she started the mission to find Tris’Tyn, she couldn’t get the idea out of her mind. Reading through the guide to romance book that Bash referenced, Freya had found a section that intrigued her.
“I know we won’t always get along because I’m too stubborn to see or admit when I’m wrong. I’m willing to say out loud that I made a mistake when I made you leave our condo, but I need you to know I only had the best intentions.” Her fingers fidgeted in the fabric for several seconds as she forced out the hardest words. “I’ll never be able to give you children, and we might die tomorrow, or worse, but I can’t go another day wondering if you know how much I love you.”
She handed the fabric to Tris’Tyn then grasped Bash’s hand, pulling him close. Holding both of his hands in hers, she looked up at him. Bash’s lip trembled as water collected in his eyes, but he just watched.
“I can’t promise that I won’t make another mistake, but I can do my best. Every. Single. Day. Until we die.” Leaning down, she placed a soft kiss on the back of his hand. “What I’m trying to say is, will you promise to be mine while I’m yours for the rest of our days?”
Bash sniffed several times while he blinked rapidly, then nodded. “Yes, I would love that.”
“Nothing about this is legal, but it’s permanent in my heart.” A deep sigh escaped her as she looked at Tris’Tyn. “Please wrap the fabric around our hands, then tie it in a knot.”
Bash’s hands trembled in hers as Tris’Tyn circled them with the cloth.
“You read my book.” He choked the words out as a tear slid down his cheek.
“I did. While it’s an ancient tradition, it seemed… appropriate.” Tris’Tyn knotted the ends, then stepped back and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want to ruin the moment by explaining the details. You know the symbolism behind this.”
He dipped down and captured her lips. “I love you forever, in this life and the next. Now, let’s make this official, then we’ll take down the dystopia.”