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TESSA FELT NUMB. SHE wanted to scream, cry, something. But she felt nothing, just numb.
As she looked around the confines of the room, her few remaining possessions were in the small bag slung across her shoulder. There was nothing for her here. Yet, she called this tiny remnant of the ship, this dug out piece of land caused by the crash, home for two years.
Flashes of memory flitted through her mind, smiling faces and screams alike. She wanted to leave it all behind, wished to delete every haunting moment as she finally set foot off this stars-forsaken planet.
But what fate awaited her with the Korthans? They were lawless. Savage.
Of course, just last night, she bemoaned dying alone. Which was worse?
Looking at her hands, Tessa tried digging the dirt from beneath her fingernails. It was still fresh, loss heavy on her soul. What would Britt do?
Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed away the voice of her friend, still prominent in her mind. Not near enough time had passed for her to forget the sound.
There was a shifting in her bag and her eyes snapped open, resolve set. Whatever her fate in enemy hands, she’d take it. Anything was preferable to the unknown death that awaited her here.
“At least I won’t die alone,” she said to the air. It was somehow comforting knowing she might die surrounded by savages instead.
Or did this L’Den truly mean what he said? Were they really going to take her home under Civilian Order Treaty 217? As a scientist, she was a civilian, but why would he do that?
Looking around the dug-out, the ship had been dismantled long ago. There was nothing the Korthans could surmise about the human colonists on what was left. Any Intelligence she possessed was years old. Perhaps the Korthan commando had already come to that same conclusion.
Might as well go out there and get it over with. She doubted the sincerity of these Korthans, but she had nothing else to lose.
***
L’DEN SCANNED THE REMAINS of the ship. There. Finding what he was looking for, he reached an area that contained the remaining consoles of the cockpit. Looking over each console, he paused in front of one that was free of dust, apparent continuous use despite the screen being dead now.
Wire snaking from his wrist, he plugged into the data port and began downloading every byte of information contained within; ship schematics, logs, mission files, crew information, Intelligence files, everything.
So, there were nine crew members onboard this ship when it crashed. From what he could tell from a cursory glance at logs made since, five of the crew members survived the crash itself, but one died soon after. Of those four, Tessa was the sole remaining survivor on the planet.
He and T’ren surmised there were others out of sensor range. Apparently not. Tessa was truly alone on this forsaken planet. L’Den’s heart suddenly felt heavy.
***
TESSA PAUSED AS THE hot evening breeze tugged at her hair. Closing her eyes with a deep breath, she marveled that she’d be gone before she had to endure another suns-rise.
“The ship is ready when you are, Starlight.” Opening her eyes at the sound of the voice, L’Den bowed slightly, his Hellhound glancing up from his spot next to him.
Tessa bristled. Starlight? What was that supposed to mean? She wasn’t some damsel in distress, some female trophy warranting a pet name.
“My name is Tessa.” Her voice was firm.
Confusion crossed the Korthan’s features. “That is what I said.”
“No, you said ‘Starlight.’”
His eyes widened a fraction before blinking several times. “I did not realize. Forgive me.”
He didn’t realize he’d called her ‘Starlight?’ Now it was Tessa’s turn to be confused. And why did he look so surprised? Did the term have a more significant meaning?
L’Den turned on his heel and set a brisk pace towards his ship. Tessa followed.
***
A’RCH SNIFFED AT THE bag the human carried. She didn’t gather much, but something sinister lurked in there. He could smell it.
The mogha did not understand how L’Den could trust this human. Even more perplexing was his use of the term of endearment, ‘Starlight.’
No matter. He’d keep the Korthan safe. He was not blind to the dangers of humans.
I am not blind either. His alpha sounded perturbed.
But you are not showing much caution.
Her ship crashed here years ago. The crew is lost. Whatever fight she had in her is gone.
Did the bag just move? A’rch narrowed his eyes. Maybe it wasn’t the human they should be worried about—
Something was going on here. He did not like this human. He did not like his alpha’s reaction to her. And he especially didn’t like her bag.
***
TESSA COULD NOT HELP but admire the Korthan ship as they approached. T’ren stood at the foot of a ramp that angled from the side of a midnight blue triangular beauty. This was no mere transport. It looked like a cross between a fighter and a battle frigate, the size somewhere in between. There was nothing comparable in the Human Alliance fleet.
On the side of the ship, near the cockpit, was an etching of a triangle with what appeared to be a cybernetic fist. Was it some kind of identification of the ship? Either way, it did not take away from the aesthetics of the hull.
“Beautiful,” she breathed.
“Did you say something?” L’Den asked.
Stars, did she say that out loud? Choosing to ignore him, she gripped the strap of her bag and walked up the ramp.
The interior was no less pleasing to the eye than the exterior. Colorful holographic controls hovered above glass-like consoles. At least, she assumed they were controls. This was more advanced than anything she’d ever seen. Where did the Korthans get this technology?
So enthralled with the interior of the ship, Tessa did not realize the ramp had been retracted and they were off the ground until she felt unsteady on her feet.
Guessing correctly, she rushed to the front in time to see the surface of the red and brown planet become smaller and smaller in one viewscreen while the stars became closer in another. The cockpit displayed two views: what they were seeing in front of the ship and what they were seeing aft.
It was the aft view that had her attention.
The wreckage of Ranger VI was strewn for miles, a scar across the land where they impacted and skidded before finally digging beneath the surface, halted by a large outcropping of rock and solid ground.
The last thing her eyes laid upon was the telltale outlines of eight graves laying in a line just north of that outcropping. Then they were out of sight.
As the ship turned towards the stars, both views became front facing, the fields merging until the viewscreen was one giant view of the stars ahead.
Taking a steadying breath, Tessa looked upon those stars, daring to hope. She was free—
A bark to her right snapped her out of her thoughts and she jumped, her head whipping towards the sound.
The Hellhound stood tall before the two Korthans, who were seated in what was likely the pilot and co-pilot seats.
“A’rch will take you to the cargo hold,” L’Den said, swiping at several holographic controls floating in front of him, eyes forward towards the viewscreen and the stars beyond.
Well, relatively free. One problem at a time—
She stared at the Hellhound, uncertainty slowing her heart.
L’Den looked up. “He won’t hurt you. Will you, A’rch?”
Tessa glanced between the Korthan and the Hellhound. She didn’t exactly trust either one of them.
A’rch brushed by her and she hesitated only a moment before following. She supposed being mauled by a Hellhound was better than falling and breaking her neck on the planet below.
Once she was seated in a room at the back of the ship, the Hellhound simply stared at her, guarding, unmoving. Hugging her bag to her chest, she had no illusions that she wasn’t a prisoner, even if this L’Den guy said they were returning her to the Human Colony Alliance.
Tearing her gaze from the disconcerting glare of the intimidating beast, Tessa’s mouth dropped open at the sight through a viewport. She thought the ship she was on was beautiful? The starship hanging in space was beyond anything she’d ever seen—
It was unlike any human freighter, yacht, colony vessel, or warship in the Human Alliance fleet. It was more elegant than any of them, more impressive by the sheer size of it.
Something shifted in her bag, catching the attention of the Hellhound, who took several steps towards her. Hugging the bag closer, she turned against the bulkhead, sitting stock still. If moving objects in her bag could distract him, no telling what he’d do if she moved too much.
“Docking in three minutes,” L’Den’s voice called over a loudspeaker.
The beast backed away, but something dangerous lurked in those keen eyes.
Daring to look out the window again, she marveled at the great ship as bay doors in a side section opened and they flew through them. They settled down amongst a group of Korthan fighters. Those she recognized immediately. Looking back down at her bag, her stomach churned with unease.
Whatever this big space vessel was, it was a courier for war.
L’Den’s form popped in the doorway and the Hellhound was on his feet in an instant.
“Follow me,” the Korthan said.
A’rch walked ahead as she followed L’Den down the ramp, T’ren falling in step behind her.
Tessa felt small, insignificant. Just a human prisoner for the inhabitants of this ship to gawk at.
Two Korthans were at the bottom of the ramp. Neither one of them looked at her, but she could practically feel their hostility. As they walked past, they seemed to be busying themselves with maintenance of L’Den’s ship.
A calm came over her mind, a warm regard that infused a bit of confidence. Tessa let her eyes wander—
She was certain her mouth was hanging open, but she didn’t bother closing it. The docking bay was pristine, walls black and shiny. Boots clapped against the mirror-finish of the floor as several Korthans rushed to do their business, one of them with snow white hair glaring at her.
A woman watched her from across the hanger, movements on guard, but with curiosity in her silver eyes.
They turned into a corridor and then walked out onto a promenade that took her breath away. There were shops, restaurants, people milling about in lively conversation. And the ceiling was unlike anything she’d ever seen on a starship. A dome of sorts, it was completely transparent, the desert planet hanging in a hazy purple field of stars.
For a moment, Tessa forgot that there had ever even been a war, her ordeal on the planet hanging above them a distant memory. Turning, she realized that T’ren was no longer behind them and that L’Den was walking beside her.
In the next moment, she realized the lively conversation of those around them had stopped. Everyone was staring—
Follow A’rch, a voice sounded in her mind. What the? Was someone speaking to her or was that her subconscious telling her to follow the Hellhound since she wasn’t being led by the Korthan and she didn’t know what else to do?
Mogha.
Right, the Korthans called their Hellhounds ‘moghas.’
The beast trotted ahead and she followed, L’Den walking along as if everything were perfectly normal. Voices in her head certainly wasn’t the craziest thing she’d experienced in the last couple of years. With everything she’d been through, it was probably inevitable.
A’rch disappeared to the left at the end of the promenade. When they caught up, Tessa saw that they were at a hospital of sorts.
The staring Korthans broke into whispers amongst themselves.
Great. This was when she finds out she’s going to be some victim of Korthan witchcraft. L’Den wasn’t beside her to be beside her; he was beside her for the best angle to grab her if she decided to run—
Said Korthan walked through the doorway, speaking to a blue-haired woman inside. Tessa did not follow, just stood there, hugging her bag to her chest, heart in her throat. So, he wasn’t grabbing her and forcing her into some nightmare witch doctor experimental lab. And none of the whispering Korthans were pushing at her with pitchforks.
Three more seconds and L’Den stuck his head through the doorway. “Are you coming?”
A choice. Not exactly feeling like anything had been her choice in the last couple of years, Tessa figured she might as well see what the Korthans had in store for her.
“So, this is the source of the distress beacon.” The woman with intelligent eyes, blue hair pulled back, and in a pretty green gown spoke in perfect Standard. Tessa didn’t know Korthans could have blue hair. Small colorful shapes glinted at her from the woman’s clothing, above her right breast. “Interesting.”
The reception area Tessa found herself standing in was spacious and as shiny as the docking bay. Instead of black, the walls were white. The Hellhound lay in an alcove on the far wall, his antennae giving away his alertness in the way they stuck straight up from his resting head. At least, Tessa assumed as much by her own experience with similar antennae on strange creatures.
The Korthan woman waved her hand in front of the white wall, a myriad of colorful holographic lights and shapes jumping out. Pointing at two of them, a wall rose from the floor until it connected to the ceiling, dividing them from the alcove with the mogha, along with L’Den in the waiting room and the promenade beyond.
“My name is A’yla and I’m the doctor onboard this galaxy-ship. I like to know my patients, so you are?”
Tessa was still getting used to the wall coming out of the floor. Now she finds out she is talking to the ship’s doctor? The woman didn’t look like a witch doctor, not that she would know what a Korthan doctor would look like— And they called this vessel a galaxy-ship?
The doctor reached forward to grab her bag and Tessa gripped it protectively. “Don’t touch my bag.”
A’yla pulled her hand back, glancing at the wall before saying, “You can set your bag on this table. I won’t touch it.”
Tessa didn’t see a table, but then one scooted out from the wall, just big enough for her bag to fit. Cautiously, she set the bag down, staring at it a moment before making eye contact with the doctor. If they searched it, they’d find a picture of her fiancé— In his Human Alliance Forces uniform. What would they do then? Would they still consider her a civilian?
A drawer opened from the wall and A’yla pulled out what looked like a medical scanner, swiping it around her head, shoulders, torso, arms and legs. When it beeped, the doctor studied it a moment.
“I would like to put you in a healing vat for two days,” she said, placing the scanner back in the drawer, which disappeared back into the wall.
Tessa’s heart raced. “Two days? I don’t—”
“Your skin has suffered extensive damage, affecting several of your internal organs. It’s amazing you aren’t nauseous.”
Tessa was nauseous all the time. It was simply a state of being for her.
“And you have two broken bones in your arm that didn’t set correctly.”
Tessa looked at her right arm. “It has already healed. Not a whole lot that can be done about it now.”
“You probably also think our food is poisonous,” the Korthan doctor said with a huff.
What? Their food was poisonous. What did that have to do with her arm?
The dividing wall that came up from the floor pixelated and vanished completely. Tessa managed to hold in a gasp but couldn’t prevent her jaw from dropping for the nth time.
The Hellhound looked up from his alcove, but L’Den was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a younger Korthan male was standing there, smaller than L’Den but with silver eyes no less intense. He had on a black uniform, colorful shapes shining from his right breast like the doctor’s. Not quite like the doctor’s— He didn’t have as many as A’yla had.
“What she needs is a good night’s sleep and plenty of rest. No doubt she’d like a shower. She will need to return tomorrow for chamber treatment. Then we will start a suitable nutrition regimen. There’s nothing alarming for now, but do not give her any food yet.”
The young Korthan nodded his head as the doctor spoke to him. It was never pleasing when someone spoke about a person as if she weren’t sitting right there, but thank goodness they weren’t putting her in some healing chamber vat whatever immediately.
The thought of being in some Korthan vat made her uneasy but, so far, nothing she had seen in this medical facility looked like witch doctor stuff. If anything, the Korthans probably thought the humans were cared for by witch doctors. The technology here was mind-blowing.
And why was the doctor giving this younger Korthan instruction about her anyway?
“Come with me,” the young Korthan said and L’Den’s Hellhound jumped from the alcove, stretching before executing a full circle around the young man, antennae twirling before standing in alertness.
Mogha, she heard in her mind. She looked at the ceiling before quickly looking at her bag. What the hell was that voice? The tone— Was someone correcting her?
Tessa grabbed her bag from the shelf, holding it to her chest as she walked past the doctor. If they were going to allow her to get cleaned up, she wasn’t going to argue.
As they meandered through the promenade and entered a corridor, Tessa noticed other Korthans with shiny objects on their clothing. They were not always in the same place, but there did seem to be a pattern to their arrangement. Clear, red, blue, green, gold, then silver.
A turbolift took them down several levels before opening on what Tessa assumed to be a living area, if the rows of doors lining a hallway were anything to go by.
There was no one in the hallway and no one going in and out of the rooms. The Korthan walked and she followed, the mogha taking a moment to sniff her bag as they went.
Stopping at the end of the hallway, the Korthan pulled one of the shiny objects off his uniform.
“This will give you access to this section of the ship and your living quarters.” The man handed her the object. It was metal, silver, the size of a button. She glanced at the others on his uniform. From what she could tell, the gold one was metal too. Were the colorful ones gemstones?
They just stood, the man watching her. Another awkward moment passed before he plucked the silver button from her hand.
“This is how you use it,” he said, placing it on a piece of glass to the right of the door. The glass lit up, the door sliding open in the next second.
Tessa blinked as he handed her the silver, Hellhound trotting forward, Korthan right behind him.
“I am your escort, T’ym,” the young man said, hands formally clasped behind his back. “These are your quarters. I’m confident you can find everything you need, but if you need me for anything, just press this panel here.” He indicated another rectangular piece of glass just inside the doorway.
“My escort?” Tessa said. So much was happening, she simply couldn’t process it.
“Yes, every guest on this ship has an escort.”
A guest? Was the war over? An agreement made? Why were these Korthans treating her so well? Maybe they really were going to take her home—
Or was ‘guest’ another way of saying ‘prisoner?’ L’Den did say they’d be returning her under Civilian Order Treaty 217. That didn’t exactly sound like the war would be over. Maybe he wanted to do a prisoner exchange.
“You do know I’m human, right?” she said, taking a quick glance around the room. It didn’t look like any prison cell she’d ever seen. In fact, it was plain luxurious.
“It is not my place to question who the KCC Commander chooses to be his guest,” the young man rocked on his toes. How old was this Korthan?
“Who is this ‘Commander?’” Tessa said.
T’ym’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “L’Den, of course. You arrived with him, did you not?”
“Yes, of course. My apologies.” Well, no one was hurting her, so might as well go with it. Prisoner. Guest. Either way, it was certainly better than being stranded on that planet.
“I will be back at o’eight five ten to escort you back to the med bay. If you need to know the time, just wave your hand in front of the lamp. Goodnight.” T’ym made to leave, then turned. “Do not lose your gemkey. They are difficult to replace.”
Gemkey? T’ym’s silver eyes glanced down at her hand. Oh, the silver button. Don’t lose the gemkey. Got it.
A’rch trotted out behind him and she was under the distinct impression that L’Den was somehow watching her through the Hellhound.
He does not like to be called a Hellhound.
“I don’t care what he likes to be called,” she said to her thoughts. “He’s creeping me out.”
No other weird pro-mogha subconscious thought appeared in her mind.
Now that she was alone, she allowed a little bit of her guard to drop, slowly wandering around the room, keeping her bag protected against her chest.
As she got to the far end, a section of wall slid to the side, revealing another room beyond. Stars, was that part of her quarters too?
Peeking inside, she saw a bed covered in fluffy plump pillows. She hadn’t seen a real bed in so long that she didn’t even realize there wasn’t one in the previous room.
Setting her bag down on the bed, another wall slid aside. This next room was a bathroom the size of the bedroom, laden with onyx-like tiling containing white and pink fossils shaped like fish and seashells. Was this ship a luxury liner?
On second thought—
She couldn’t figure out how she was supposed to clean up. There weren’t any mirrors, tubs, or showers to be seen. It was all just tiled walls. A luxury liner would at least have a toilet of some kind.
Catching her reflection in the tiles, she was glad there wasn’t a mirror. Her hair was bleached almost completely white, matted and knotted. Her skin was red and cracked. She didn’t even look human.
Tearing her eyes away from the image, the pillows on the bed were a familiarity and they beckoned, but first—
The supposed bathroom might have been an anomaly, but the front room and the bedroom had tables, chairs, lamps, a bed, and a couch. Tessa searched under every surface and cushions. No motion sensors or cameras. Good.
Jumping on the bed, relishing in the soft comfort, she opened her bag, reaching in to grab the picture that kept her going most days—
Her hand came into contact with a warm scaly substance and she snatched it back.
Looking into the bag, beady eyes stared out at her. “Squeak! What are you doing here?”
Grabbing the small scaly creature from within, she hugged it to her chest as it nuzzled under her chin, soft fur on its face warm against her skin. Its tail twirled in circles, fluffy tufts of feathers at the end tickling her nose.
“How am I going to keep you alive?” Tessa said. She had some spider jerky, but what could this creature eat on a spaceship? Looking around the room, nothing threatening presented itself, as food or otherwise. “Well, I think we might be safe here, at least.”
Finding food was a problem for another day.