Rogue Mate, page 11
part #1 of Rogue Star Series
Well, that would be nice, if I trusted the Dominion.
We made our way towards the building, keeping up the ruse of purchasing supplies along the way, finding a few more merchants who confirmed the women’s location. We met up with Kovor’s group as we got closer. “What’s the word?” he asked when I finished negotiating the price on some converters we actually needed.
“Officials still deny they’re here, locals say they’re in there,” I answered as I nodded towards the building.
“On our way there?” he asked, a bit of anticipation in his voice.
“Of course,” I answered, matching his tone.
He smiled in a way that I’d never liked. Kovar was usually the most laid-back of Shein, but sometimes someone else seemed to come to the surface.
It was a smile that spelled trouble, and it was trouble we wanted to avoid if possible.
“Easy,” I warned him. “Remember, we don’t want issues with the Dominion.”
“Scro, like I didn’t know that,” he snapped back sarcastically. We quickly bought more supplies, sent most of the crew back with said supplies, and nine of us made our way towards the ‘resort.’
On the way, Kovor spotted something before I did.
“Look,” he pointed towards the main entrance. Walking up to the building was a small team of four Dominion soldiers escorting what looked to be a very highly ranked, high-powered official.
It looked like it was time for them to go home.
“Well, scro,” I cursed. “This is an umbba problem.”
“What do we do?” Kovor asked.
I wasn’t sure, but we’d come too close for me to let Kalyn go without talking to her one more time.
And I wanted an answer to the question that had been bothering me all day.
Why had Dominion Official Third Class Raud, with his bubbly voice and cheerful demeanor, lied?
“We follow, stick close, but stay out of sight.” With a nod, we broke up into teams of three and separately made our ways into the building.
We quietly searched the building, looking for any of the women, playing a game of cat and mouse as we avoided the official and his guards.
Their rooms were empty, and no one we questioned remembered seeing where the women had gone.
“Where in the kopa did they go?” I muttered.
“Sir.”
At the crew member’s quiet word, I looked up to see the official and his four guards leaving through a side door.
“Find the others, now.” I headed towards the side door, ignoring one of the people working at the resort.
It wasn’t long, maybe a minute, when the others arrived. I pointed out the side door. “They went that way, we’re going that way. Questions?”
“None,” Kovor responded, revealing that dangerous smile again.
This time, I matched it.
Kalyn
We stood in a cluster in the bustling market square between the villa and the port. For a change, the women looked to me for direction.
The escape had been the easy part. After spending another day and a half within the confines of the villa, we realized how little we were supervised.
It made sense when given some thought. Why would we want to leave a place of comfort and luxury? As far as anyone knew, we still believed we were waiting for the transport unit to take us home.
The day before, I tested our escape plan, though 'escape plan' was a generous phrase. We weren’t doing anything more than walking out the front door.
I left the villa, walked to the end of the street and walked back. No one approached me, no one questioned me upon arrival.
I didn’t see another living soul.
We agreed that it would be less conspicuous if we left in pairs and groups of three, staggered throughout the day.
The only obstacle that required extra planning was our appearance. The Dominion officials knew what we looked like. We had to find some way to alter our appearances so we wouldn’t be recognized.
“Are there any cosmetic products in the bathrooms?” Lynna had asked in the hours before we put our plan into action.
“No,” Aryn said quickly. “I looked.”
We all gave her a quizzical look.
“What?” she’d demanded. “Just because I could kick all of your asses, it doesn’t mean I don’t like to fancy myself up.”
“I think I have an idea.” Maris distracted everyone from thinking too much about Aryn’s fashion preferences.
In Maris’s hand was a handful of purple berries, her fingers were tinted with juice. “We can stain our skin with these and make hoods out of the curtains.”
“Not a bad idea,” I nodded. I’d walked over to the table of food and grabbed a handful of berries, smashing them between my palms. Sticky juice dripped down my hands, staining my skin pale purple. Using my fingers, I’d smeared it over my face. “How do I look?”
“Insane,” Aryn snorted. “But less human.”
“I’ll take it.” I smeared more berry juice on my face and urged the others to do the same. Maris and I were the first to finish tinting our skin, so we’d started tearing the curtains down.
The thin fabric was easy to rip. Maris showed me how to wear the fabric so it fell in a hood over my eyes. Part of me felt guilty for destroying such fine fabric. It was far better than the highest quality fabric on Mars. I bet a yard of that fabric would’ve kept us fed on Persephone Station for a week. Extra clothing from the dressers padded out our shapes, made us look rounder.
Alien.
Hopefully, alien enough.
“Pair up,” I’d instructed everyone once the hoods were made. “Don’t leave your partner, no matter what. When you leave the house, go straight to the market we passed between here and the port. Stick to crowded areas where you’ll blend in more.”
I’d sent Shenna and another woman, Ada, out first. After ten minutes passed and nothing happened, I sent the next pair out. Maris and I were the last to leave.
Maris and I hadn’t spoken as we walked and found the others quickly.
I winced.
Our large group, even with our false purple skin and colorful headwraps, stood out.
“We need to stay split up,” I urged. “Pair off again and pretend to shop while I look for a comm. Just try to keep an eye on each other.”
“Even if you did find a comm, you wouldn’t know how to work it,” Maris scoffed. “Let me go find one.”
“You’re not going alone,” I insisted. “I know the call codes for the Rogue Star just as well as you do.”
I nodded to Lynna to break up the group while I continued discussing options with Maris.
“I’m scarier than any of those officials,” Maris insisted.
“Maybe. But you’re not scarier than their weapons. They’re all armed,” I replied. “We’re going together. That’s final.”
“Is that an order, Commander?” Maris asked.
“Yes,” I replied. I held her gaze until she blinked and looked away. The corner of my mouth curled up. “Now, if you were a comm, where would you be?”
“A command center of some kind,” Maris replied.
“Like a port?” I asked.
“Exactly like a port,” she grinned.
I looked around the marketplace one last time to make sure the other women were blending in. Now that we weren’t standing in a group, the other market goers hardly spared any of us a second glance. Maris and I pulled our colorful hoods down and made our way towards the port.
“Have you ever done anything like this before?” I asked her.
“Not exactly,” she replied. “I’ve done my fair share of sneaking about, but nothing on this scale. I don’t have to ask if you’ve done anything like this.”
“Why not?” I demanded.
“You’re an Askvig. Why would you need to do anything like this?” she scoffed.
“Have you met my mother?” I replied. “I used to sneak out all the time. It was the only way to see my friends or do anything fun.”
“Yeah, I can imagine your mom being a hardass,” Maris agreed.
“You don’t know the half of it,” I sighed. “I worked harder to sneak out of her house than I did to escape the villa. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
“Yes, but as long as it’s working in our favor, I’m not going to think about it,” Maris replied.
“Commander!” A piercing shout grabbed my attention, and I whirled to look back toward the marketplace.
Someone dressed in all black held Lynna tightly by the arm.
And held what looked like a particularly nasty gun pressed to her side.
“Shit!” I hissed. “Maris, we’ve got a problem.”
She followed my gaze back to the marketplace and swore.
“What should we do?” she asked.
“I’ll go help them,” I decided. “You need to get to the comm and call for help.”
“Why would you need help?” A voice behind me made my insides go slick.
Before I could turn to see who it was, they grasped my arm and yanked it behind my back. Whoever it was pointed a gun at Maris’s face.
“Follow,” he demanded. He shoved me forward.
Maris, silent and pale, followed behind. He brought us back to the marketplace where the rest of the women had been gathered. The person that held me released his grip and shoved me into the group. Lynna reached out to catch me as I stumbled forward.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “They came out of nowhere.”
I turned to get a look at our attackers.
There were four of them dressed all in black, each a different species of alien.
All wore a black band across their foreheads with what I had guessed was the Dominion’s insignia.
Of more immediate importance, each of them was armed to the teeth with guns, blades, and extra ammunition.
If any of us tried to run, I had no doubt they would shoot us down.
“What’s the meaning of this?” A deep voice rumbled through the crowd. I reached out and touched the sleeves of the women closest to me.
Something about that voice made me want to shrink away into nothing. Instinctively, we huddled closer together.
A tall figure appeared before us. His voice was male, but the heavy black cloak and hood he wore obscured any distinguishing features. On the right side of his chest was the Dominion insignia.
“This is all of them, sir,” one of the armed officials reported.
“Excellent. Return them to the villa. Lock the doors,” the hooded figure instructed.
“We no longer require your help,” I blurted before I could stop myself. “We’re fine.”
The other women looked at me in shock.
“You are not from Dominion space,” the hooded figure replied. “You need to be returned to your corner of the universe. Now move.”
The armed officials pointed their guns at us and urged us forward. Herded together like cattle, we had no choice but to follow the hooded figure back toward the villa.
This was bad.
We’d never get another chance to escape. Perhaps they would take us to locked cells instead of luxurious rooms.
And I knew in my gut they had no intention of taking us ‘back to our corner of the universe’.
I gritted my teeth as I walked. I wasn’t going to let my team down yet again.
I didn’t know what the Dominion wanted with us, but I was certain if we stayed with them, we’d never get back home.
I scanned our surroundings, looking for anything or anyone to help us.
All of the market goers avoided my gaze, altering their path the moment they saw the hooded figure. They knew not to interfere. I wondered how many times they’d seen something like this.
A flash of gold caught my eye. I rose up on the tips of my toes as I walked, hoping to get another glimpse. Through the shifting crowd, I saw a gold arm with dark tattoos.
I tried not to get my hopes up. It could be any Shein.
Still, I kept my eye on that part of the marketplace, hoping to get a glimpse of his face.
Just before we exited the market, I saw him and my heart lit up.
“Dejar!”
Dejar
It didn’t take us long to see which direction the Dominion official and his guards went. They didn’t seem to be terribly worried about hiding their trail.
Of course, they never had a reason to.
People hid from them, not the other way around.
For several minutes, we followed their tracks. When we finally found them, they had the women surrounded, weapons drawn to keep them in line.
We ducked down to stay out of sight behind the small crowd of people on our little rise to assess the situation.
Yes, we outnumbered them, but they had us outgunned. Not that we were unarmed, we just weren’t armed as well as the guards.
“How do you want to do this?” Kovor whispered.
I looked at the situation, as a small child stared at me like I was the most unusual thing around.
We had to make sure to keep things simple in order to ensure the women stayed safe, and we had to make sure we were able to get away without too much of a scene.
If any more Dominion soldiers arrived, we would be in more trouble than we could handle.
“We have to be as careful as possible. We can’t risk a shootout, because the women could be caught in the crossfire, but it’s unlikely we’ll be able to sneak up on them, either.”
“Divide and conquer?”
I nodded. It seemed to be the best bet. If we could make them believe they were surrounded and outmanned, they might simply surrender, or at least not put up as much of a fight.
The Dominion wouldn’t want to risk a shootout in a crowded market, either.
Surely a handful of humans couldn’t mean that much to them, right?
Kovor took four of the men with him and they quietly made their way around the scene ahead of us.
As we got close to the agreed time to attack, the guards started the women moving.
They were taking them back to the building we had just left.
Maybe, just maybe, we could get out of this without a single shot fired.
I quickly motioned for the men to disperse, to find a place to hide.
The men moved quickly and silently, but as I stood up to move, Kalyn must have spotted me and called out.
“Kalyn! There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you,” I tried to keep my voice calm, yet worried.
I looked at the Dominion official and extended my hand out to him. “Thank you so very much, sir. You have no idea how worried I was for her. Thank you for finding her for me.” Another Shein. Maybe he’d have some brother-species feeling, give us a little leeway.
Or not. “You are the captain that brought them here three days ago, are you not?”
Scro.
Apparently, we hadn’t been as careful when the women disembarked as I had thought.
“Yes, yes, I am. The ladies wanted a nice place to relax and vacation for a few days, so we brought them here.” I shook my head, forced a sad, disapproving glare at Kalyn. “Then, when I’m supposed to come pick them up, they’re not ready. Needed to do another round of shopping, my dear?”
She looked at me in shock but didn’t answer.
Probably for the best, since I wasn’t sure what she’d say.
He looked me up and down, his eyes narrowed into a glare as his bronze-colored skin reflected the sunlight.
“You are lying, Captain. Why have you returned?”
“Well, like I said, we just wanted to let the ladies have some time off the ship, see the sights...”
Where were Kovor and the others? This was about to go bad.
“I am Dominion Official Menta Slarc, and you will tell me the truth,” he drew a snub-nosed, ugly-looking hand blaster and pointed it at Kalyn’s head, “or I will shoot this one.”
Scro!
As I opened my mouth to answer, the crew came screaming out of hiding.
As Menta Slarc turned to see what was happening, Kalyn smacked the weapon from her head and I charged.
I tackled Slarc to the ground, wrestling for control of the weapon. He managed to pull the trigger once, narrowly missing Kovor as he kicked the guard he was fighting.
“Take care of him,” he shouted at me, then went back to fighting his own guard.
“I’m trying,” I grunted back at him. Slarc managed to elbow me in the side of the head, knocking me off him.
We got to our feet at the same time. Kalyn had already started leading the women away, but two of them slammed into him, knocking the pistol to the ground.
I rushed him again, going in low so I could wrap my arms around him. He pounded on my back as I wrapped him up and shoved him. Having enough of my back being pounded on, I lifted him up and slammed him onto the ground. The air whooshed from his lungs and his eyes glazed over a bit. Not willing to let the advantage disappear, I straddled him and bounced his head off the ground until he was unconscious.
My breathing heavy, I looked around to see the other guards down, too. The women followed Kovor, running back towards the ship, while two of the crew carried a third member between them.
Kalyn ran over and reached out for me.
“Hurry up,” she said as she pulled me to my feet. Her face was dirty and, for some reason purple, but I didn’t care, she was beautiful to see again.
There were shouts coming from behind us as more guards and locals were showing up to see what had happened, and we tore through the crowd, ducking and weaving as shouts followed us.
And then Kalyn screamed.
She fell, her hand wrenched away from mine.
“Kalyn!” I roared. If I didn’t have her, if she didn’t make it back with us, none of it mattered.
Blood.
There was blood on her leg.
Swearing, I picked her up, cradled her to me.
“Hold on.” I sprang to my feet as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
And I ran.
The Rogue Star sat in dock a few hundred yards ahead of me. All I could hear was my own breath and her quiet whimpers, muffled against my chest.
