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OSAIS, AORSA | ABOUT 80 years later
The last six months had sucked. Or eighty years. Lena still wasn’t sure how to square the passage of time in her mind. She was still the same thirty-four year old who’d been walking down the streets of Oklahoma City on that fateful night, and she’d spent six months as the captive of aliens intent on using her for their twisted experiments.
But apparently she’d been away from Earth for nearly eight decades. No one could tell her the exact year on Earth, but it took slaver ships anywhere from seventy to a hundred years to cross the galaxy and drop humans off near Kilrym and Aorsa, the domains of the Zulir. Some species were long-lived enough that the trips made sense. She and her fellow captives had been put in stasis to prevent them from aging during the trip.
Was her entire family dead?
Lena shoved that thought into a tiny compartment in the darker recesses of her mind. If she thought about what had been stolen from her, she was going to go mad with grief and anger, and she couldn’t do that. She had things to do.
Okay, she was lying to herself. She had nothing to do and it was driving her almost as crazy as the rest of it.
A bony hip jutted against hers and Luci shot her a questioning look. “Everything alright?” the girl asked. She was eighteen and looked younger, though their time as Apsyn prisoners had toughened her up. Luci reminded Lena of her little sisters and she’d made it her job to keep Luci safe.
They were safe now. Protected.
Alone.
No. Not dwelling.
“I’m fine.” Lena pasted on a smile. “It’s not me you should be worried about. Emily looks about ready to fall over.” It was true. Unlike Lena, Emily Saint had plenty to do. She and her mate, Oz, were preparing for the war between the Synnrs and Apsyns that everyone knew was on the horizon. She’d also been chosen as the representative of the human refugees from Kilrym because of her legal training. Despite all that, she was taking time away to go shopping with Lena and Luci.
Lena didn’t want to be jealous, and she comforted herself with the fact that she was only jealous of Emily’s schedule. She didn’t need the man or the job.
Emily cracked a huge yawn that had a couple aliens, Zulir, looking their way. She grimaced at Lena and Luci. “Sorry, it was super late when we finally fell asleep.”
“Can’t exactly blame you.” Luci grinned back.
Now it was Lena’s turn to bump her hip. She’d thought Luci was an innocent little kid when they’d been prisoners. It turned out she’d been holding back a good portion of her personality out of fear.
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Emily muttered, but she blushed while she said it. Lena was pretty sure they all knew what had kept her up late.
If Lena was being completely honest she was a little jealous about the guy thing too. She didn’t want Oz for herself, but it had been a long time since she’d had a steady partner, not even counting the extra-long space trip. And while there were a few men among the humans rescued from the Apsyns, no one had lit a spark inside of her.
Maybe she’d have to find an alien of her own.
Lena looked around. They were in an open market and looking at clothes at a vendor’s stall. The materials were similar to cotton and silk and there were only so many ways to drape a tunic. Over the past month she’d been discovering that alien life wasn’t as different from life on Earth as she would have expected. If she ignored the fact that most of the people had shimmery, iridescent skin and could spout wings made of strands of electricity, she could pretend she was in a foreign country. But that didn’t work for long.
The air didn’t smell the same as on Earth. There was a sweetness to it, and something vaguely metallic, like she was standing between a metalworking shop and a bakery. The sky was more purple than blue, and instead of a moon, they could see the planet Kilrym, where the Apsyns lived. The Synnrs used some kind of technology to give gravity a harder pull on Aorsa, but she could still jump higher than she would have ever dreamed on Earth, not that she’d let anyone catch her playing.
She wished things were more alien, though. If everything was completely unrecognizable, maybe she wouldn’t wake up some days and forget that she’d never see Earth or her family again.
“What do you think of this one?” Emily asked, pulling Lena out of her reverie.
She’d draped a deep green tunic over the drab brown clothes she’d been wearing. It brought out the gray of her eyes and reminded Lena of a dense forest. “It’s cute.”
“It’s amazing!” Luci added. “Is there a purple one?” She started sorting through the piles of clothes looking for an outfit for herself.
Lena kept back. She didn’t want to spend the credits she’d been given on clothes she didn’t need. She didn’t want to spend the credits at all. She hadn’t earned them. She and her fellow humans had arrived on Aorsa with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and those had been stolen from the facility where they’d been held captive. One of their rescuers, Crowze, had given them a place to stay on his vast estate. And then he’d given them clothes, food, lessons about Synnr life, and more. He hadn’t asked for anything in return and he was rich enough not to notice the expense.
But Lena didn’t want to be in anyone’s debt. That wasn’t how she operated.
“You have to get something.” Luci turned to her, holding a chunky beaded necklace in her hands.
“Not that.” Lena cringed. The monstrosity looked like it weighed ten pounds and was made for a toddler to play with. Definitely not her style. A more subtle green stone caught her eye, but she forced herself to look away. “I don’t need anything.”
“It’s not about need,” Luci said, setting the necklace down. “Things have been terrible and now they’re starting to get better. You deserve something nice. We all do.” She paused and glanced at their companion. “Except Emily. She’s got enough.”
Emily rolled her eyes and went to find the vendor to purchase her outfit.
Was Luci right? Maybe she was thinking too hard about all of this and she just needed to accept her position now. It wouldn’t be forever.
With that in mind, she took a new look at the clothes on the racks, but nothing stood out. This time it had nothing to do with the thought of spending another person’s money. She just preferred... sleeker items. She wasn’t flowy.
Luci stood at the edge of the stall and was so intent on the clothes that she didn’t notice an alien sidling up beside her. Lena did. She still felt responsible for keeping the younger girl safe, and more than a decade in law enforcement didn’t just disappear because of one tiny alien abduction.
She stepped closer, watching to see what was going to happen. Maybe the Zulir was just looking at the clothes like Luci, but she didn’t like the look of the guy. Trouble looked like trouble no matter the planet.
And when he bumped into Luci and took off walking swiftly, she was sure something was up.
“Mmmph!” Luci brushed against the rack before sorting herself. “Rude!” she called toward the retreating form.
She wasn’t hurt. But still... “Do you have your wallet?” Lena asked. They’d each been given one to hold their credit chips and communicators.
“It’s right...” Luci trailed off and patted her back pocket. “I thought I...” Then she looked at the ground as if it must have fallen.
Son of a bitch.
Lena took off running. That lowlife couldn’t have gotten far.
The market hadn’t seemed so packed earlier, but now she dodged carts and parents and children, doing her best not to slam into anyone while trying to keep up. She caught a hint of dark fabric and was certain it was the person who’d grabbed Luci’s wallet.
She sped up.
Someone yelled as she barreled around them and made them fall over, but Lena didn’t waste time calling out an apology.
She’d dodged through two more stalls and passed through a shop before she realized she was being followed. She hadn’t been moving for long, but her lungs heaved, long out of practice that came from daily sprints. She didn’t see the stupid thief, but she didn’t want to give up.
And she would have kept running if she hadn’t heard an authoritative voice yell, “Freeze or be frozen!”
A cop sounded like a cop no matter the planet, too.
Lena froze, held her hands up, and slowly turned. Two Synnrs in patrol uniforms stood tall, one with her wings out and another leveling a blaster right at Lena’s back. Wonderful. “A thief took my friend’s wallet,” she explained. “I was trying to find him.”
“Damaging property and disturbing the peace are crimes, newcomer,” the winged guard said. And she put enough emphasis on the word newcomer that Lena knew she wasn’t supposed to like it. The Synnrs were more accepting of humans than Apsyns, but that didn’t mean prejudice was non-existent. And Lena did not want to find out how bad things could get.
She kept quiet. Neither of the guards seemed interested in going after the thief, and continuing to talk would only make things worse.
“Well?” the female guard demanded. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Lena mulled her choices. Say nothing, admit to nothing, piss the cops off? Or apologize and hope they didn’t take it as a confession? She’d know what to do back home, but in Osais she didn’t know anything. “I was trying to help my friend,” she finally said.
The cop snorted. “You’re coming with us.”
Lena didn’t fight them. It was useless. Arrested by aliens. How had her life come to this?
***
THE MUNICIPAL STATION in downtown Osais was the last place Solan wanted to be. It was full to the brim of people trying to go through the necessary bureaucracy to go about their daily lives and the criminals and troublemakers the patrols pulled off the streets. Patrols he knew were on high alert after a bomb had destroyed part of the city less than a month ago.
Apsyns.
War was on the horizon. The mounting threat had sent him to live for months on the Apsyn-controlled planet of Kilrym. He’d gotten used to things there. Not Apsyn life, not their hatred for anything non-Zulir and their sickening sense of superiority over everyone else. But he’d been able to just be Solan the soldier, relied upon by his crew for his skills.
And no family obligations.
Now he had a sheaf of paperwork in his hands that needed to be filed before his brother could get married and there would be even more before his sister’s bonding ceremony. His mother could have handled it. She was officially the head of the family, but she liked to remind him that he’d be taking over one day soon and had to get accustomed to his responsibility.
He didn’t need a title. He didn’t need all eyes of the highborn families on him as he tried to go about his life. He didn’t need incessant pressure to find his Match or make a marriage.
But that was life for a scion of Synnr nobility.
He couldn’t wait for the war to start.
It hadn’t been this bad before. Back then he’d been able to count on his best friend Oz to be a sympathetic ear and to give him a place to hide when everything got to be too much. But now Oz was happily Matched with his human mate, Emily, and Solan didn’t want to intrude.
He was truly happy for the man. He’d never seen his friend in better spirits and he wouldn’t begrudge him a Match. But it definitely left him feeling alone.
“She didn’t do anything! Let her out.”
Now Emily’s voice was following him around, sounding like one of the hundred people in the building arguing with the guards.
“As her lawyer I demand to speak to her.”
No. That was Emily. He’d recognize that insistent tone anywhere. Had one of the humans gotten into trouble? What had they done?
He glanced down at the papers in his hands and shoved them into the large pocket of his pants. He’d deal with them later. The line was bound to be long and he didn’t want to stand in it, or to deal with the fawning appreciation that would be headed his way if he attempted to use his position to circumvent the wait.
As he got closer to the Patrol and Public Safety offices, he spotted Emily’s dark hair and recognized the waifish girl next to her as Luci, but she clearly wasn’t in trouble.
“The charges against the detained will be reviewed by a supervisor before any steps can be taken,” a harried clerk was telling Emily, and it couldn’t have been the woman’s first time. She had the mulish look of someone who didn’t intend to budge.
“What kind of place is this where you arrest someone who was trying to stop a robbery and don’t bother to chase down the thief?” Solan felt electricity crackle in the air. How much control did Emily have over her spark? As Oz’s Match she had electric wings and the ability to project lightning, same as any Zulir. But did she know how rude it would be to flash her wings out as a sign of aggression?
If one of the guards saw it and was in a bad mood, they could detain her for attempted assault. He didn’t want Oz to have to deal with that.
Solan stepped close. “What’s going on?” he asked in the tone his mother had taught him to use when the time for negotiation was over.
Emily stiffened before glancing back. Her shoulders sank in relief when she recognized him. “They arrested Lena after she chased down a pickpocket who took Luci’s wallet.”
Lena. Solan conjured an image of the woman. Lush dark hair, golden skin, sharp eyes that saw everything, and the ability to take charge of any situation she was in. It was a miracle she and Emily were friends, considering both of them were born leaders, but neither of them seemed burdened by an ego too big to allow them to follow.
Lena was the one who’d gotten Emily and Luci, along with two other humans, out of the research facility where they’d been held on Kilrym. And in the process, she’d been severely injured. He hadn’t been sure she would survive, and he didn’t like to think of what she’d looked like hooked up to the medbot. It was a strong first impression to have of a person, but if it taught Solan anything, it was that the woman wasn’t weak.
She’d been on her feet in a matter of days and running right back into that facility to help rescue the rest of the humans. It didn’t surprise him in the least to learn that she’d tried to protect Luci in the market today.
But he couldn’t simply take Emily’s word for it. “What does your report say?” he asked the clerk.
She narrowed her eyes at him, no doubt recognizing his accent as one of the highborn. He could have hidden it, but what would be the point when he’d be throwing his name around in a minute?
The clerk pulled up the file. “It says this human was detained by two guards in the central market after complaints of destroying property and disturbing the peace. She claimed to be chasing after a thief but no evidence of one has turned up.”
“Hey—” Luci started to make a noise but was cut off by a glare from the clerk.
“There have been complaints over the last few weeks of other thefts,” the clerk added. “Which will be taken into account.”
“This sounds like a misunderstanding to me. Has her paperwork been processed?” The Patrol and Public Safety department loved writing and filing reports and everything got more complicated once the higher-ups got involved. He had no doubt that Emily was ready to use her Earth skills to argue for Lena’s freedom, but right now he could hopefully use his knowledge of the system before anything got more complicated.
“It’s in the queue,” said the clerk with a dismissive shrug. “It’s been a busy day.”
Solan reached into his pocket, pulled out his identification card, and slid it across the desk. “If that’s the case, have her released into my custody and I’ll ensure that she’s educated about proper public conduct.”
He could feel Emily brimming with energy beside him and was positive she wanted to say something. No doubt he wouldn’t hear the end of it once this was done, but she’d thank him later.
Or not.
It didn’t particularly matter. He liked helping his friends, and Emily’s relationship to Oz made her his friend.
The clerk scanned his identification into the system and made a noise of surprise when his information showed up. “Are you related to the Honorable Lureyne Zadra?” she asked. Her voice had been neutral until now, but he recognized the tinge of awe creeping in.
“I am,” he confirmed. If this got back to his mother, she’d have an hour-long lecture for him about the abuse of his name.
“Give me a moment,” said the clerk. There was a flurry of movement as she typed something into her system and then sprang up and back towards the holding cells.
“What’s that all about?” Emily asked. She clearly wasn’t impressed by his family name, but she had no reason to be. And Solan didn’t want to have this conversation. He liked the way his friend’s Match acted around him and he didn’t want things to change.
“I hoped I could help,” was his answer.
And it looked like he had.
The clerk came back through the door with Lena walking behind her. And Solan looked his fill. Her skin had gotten even more golden under the near constant sunlight they received during this part of the year, and she looked much healthier than she had when they’d parted ways a month ago. He hadn’t realized what a difference that would make, but his body was paying attention now. He’d known she was attractive before, but now he wanted to get a closer look.
Their eyes locked and Lena glared. The clerk was talking to her, but they were far enough away and the room was loud enough that Solan couldn’t make out what she was saying. Was it about him?
That was conceited. But from the sheer malice in Lena’s gaze, it was hard to believe anything else.
Then the clerk was standing right in front of them and Lena was free. “Thank his lordship for his kindness,” the clerk said.
“I’m not a lord,” Solan was quick to point out. That was a level of trouble he’d hopefully never have to deal with. He was related to lords, but more than a dozen people would need to die for him to become eligible. “And there’s no need to thank me,” he added. But that only made Lena’s expression even darker.
“Thank you,” she said woodenly. “Your kindness is appreciated.” Then she turned to Emily and Luci. “Let’s get out of here.”
And the three of them were off without another word. The clerk looked ready to start up a conversation, and that was the last thing Solan wanted. He bade her farewell and made his way back to his original destination.
Maybe peacefully standing in a line for half an hour wouldn’t be so bad.
