She smiled. The move leaped naturally over her tired lips.

  He was alive.

  Suddenly her memories washed back into her.

  Shera. Meva. The other Avixans trying to take over the ship.

  Her heart started to race, her body shaking with the power of that awful memory.

  “Whoa, she’s going into shock. I need help,” Chen suddenly screamed, locking a hand on Hunter’s shoulder and shoving him back.

  Shock. Yes. She felt it. It ripped through her body.

  It was torture. One side of her body felt ready to take on an army whilst the other was so weak it almost felt like it had died.

  The more she settled on those terrifying feelings, the more unsettled she became.

  Her breathing shortened into desperate pants as her arms began to shake.

  “Ava, Ava, listen to me. You need to calm down. We don’t know enough about what’s happening to you to medicate you. We can’t risk sending you into another coma. Ava,” Chen pushed his face down low, bringing it close to the flickering orange field of her stasis unit, “please calm down, Ava.”

  She could comprehend his words, but she couldn’t follow them.

  She was trapped and free at the same time – one half of her shackled while the other sprouted wings.

  Energy suddenly shot down her right arm. A massive spark of it raced from her fingers and slammed into the stasis field.

  Chen jerked back. “We’ve got no choice – we’re going to have to knock her out.”

  “No, Ava.” Hunter pushed forward again. He leaned close to her chamber, despite the fact the stasis pod was now discharging energy. She saw him jerk back as he was burned but then push towards her once more. “It’s okay, Ava. It’s okay. Calm down. Everything’s okay. We will find a way to help you,” he promised.

  She held on to his voice, onto his promise. She pushed all her attention into it until it cut the fear spiraling through her gut.

  She let out a tortured breath and stilled, never tearing her gaze off his.

  Though he couldn’t lean past her malfunctioning stasis pod and wrap his arms around her, his gaze was enough.

  She stilled.

  Her right arm stopped discharging energy.

  Her stasis pod failed with a sizzle, and though it sent a zap through her, she didn’t allow herself to react.

  A tentative silence spread over the med bay. Chen was standing close, a special kind of electro needle in his hand, a pressured look compressing his brow.

  He looked from Hunter back to Ava and took a sharp breath. “You did it. Her readings are normalizing.”

  Hunter closed his eyes and clearly took a relieved breath. “Thank god.” He opened his eyes and took a step closer to Ava, locking a hand on the edge of her bed.

  The back of his hand was badly burned, his skin bubbled and bleeding.

  “You’re… you’re hurt,” she managed through a wheeze.

  Her throat felt like it had been squeezed closed, like someone had wrapped a rope around it and tried to choke her to death.

  She brought up a shaking hand and locked her fingers against her neck.

  Despite her pain, she forced herself to keep looking at Hunter.

  He could calm her. His mere presence could anchor her away from her fear.

  “Hunter, we need to look at that hand,” Chen said as he placed the electro needle back on a floating medical table next to her bed. “And, Ava….”

  “Yes?”

  “I have no idea how you’re awake, but I’m glad you’re alive.”

  She nodded. Then she tried to push herself up.

  That’s when she noticed the pain stabbing through her left side. She brought her hand up and pushed her searching fingers over her skin.

  “Hey, don’t do that,” Chen snapped.

  She ignored him as she pushed up on her elbows and looked down at her side.

  She remembered being stabbed by Meva’s electro knife. She remembered it slicing through her skin, sinking past her hip, and almost cutting her in half.

  … She could still feel the wound.

  Clearly the doctors hadn’t had a chance to heal her yet.

  She rested back against her bed and swiveled her gaze towards Chen. “What’s happening?”

  “… We can’t heal your injuries,” he said, dropping her gaze and settling his eyes on the floor. “We have no idea how to push past that armlet.”

  With a shaking move, she brought up her left arm and stared at her armlet. It was still locked hard around her wrist, forming a perfect seal against her skin. Not even air could squeeze behind that cold metal.

  With a stuttering breath, she dropped her left hand and brought up her right.

  Power. She could feel it swirling around in her blood, feel it charging through her body, just waiting for a chance to escape.

  She suddenly closed her eyes and squeezed them shut as hard as she could.

  “Ava, it’s okay. We’ll make everything okay. You’re not a monster,” Hunter suddenly added.

  She snapped her eyes open. “What?”

  “I know what you were thinking,” he said in a soft but firm voice. “Now stop. It’s okay. We all trust you. You are not going to turn into a monster.”

  “But… I… I need my other lock. P-please give it to me.”

  “Ava, your lock has been destroyed. It’s currently in engineering as B’cal tries to figure out what the hell it is and how it works. It doesn’t matter though, Ava.” Hunter pushed forward again and reached his badly burned hand over, locking it comfortingly onto her shoulder. “You don’t need it. We trust you.”

  Her skin crawled as fear pushed through her body.

  She felt herself slipping down into a quagmire of fear.

  She could not overemphasize how important her locks were. Since childhood, the priestesses had drilled into her head what would happen if she ever lost them.

  She would turn into a monster. Despite her best efforts, despite her original intentions, she would become a devil.

  So she started to shake.

  But Hunter didn’t let up. He pressed his hand harder into her right shoulder.

  “Hunter, move away,” Chen said in a warning tone.

  “No,” Hunter snapped as he stared at Chen over his shoulder before returning his tender gaze to Ava. “I trust you, Ava. Now trust yourself. We need you,” he added in a low tone.

  His tone and direct stare stilled her.

  She took a breath and calmed herself again.

  He smiled, the move reaching high into his cheeks.

  It reached right into her chest as well and chased away the last vestige of fear.

  Chen suddenly sighed with relief. “Her bio signs are stabilizing. You did it again, Hunter. Maybe you should be the doctor here.”

  Hunter let out a short laugh but didn’t shift his gaze off Ava. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

  “So am I. But… what happened? I remember the fight with Shera.” She had to stop herself from locking a hand over her injured left side. “But what happened next? Did you catch her?”

  Hunter took a breath and screwed his eyes shut. “Sorry, Ava, but no. We didn’t. We couldn’t. She escaped with the Avixans and left on the diplomatic transport.”

  “Have you contacted the Avixan government? Are they sending priestesses?”

  Hunter didn’t answer. He slipped his gaze to the side and locked it on the wall beside her bed.

  “… Hunter?”

  “Ava, it’s all going to be okay—”

  “Hunter, what’s happening?” she insisted, another burst of fear ricocheting around her heart.

  He winced. “Your people have been plunged into civil war.”

  “Careful, don’t tell her anything that will upset her,” Chen whispered. It was low, and maybe he didn’t think Ava would be able to pick it up, but she could.

  Her right ear was now so sensitive she could hear the footsteps of everyone on this deck.

  Fear kicked through her heart, and she fought against Hunter’s hand.

  She broke his grip easily as she pushed into a seated position.

  Her left arm lay loosely by her side, but she shored it up and supported it easily with her right hand.

  She looked right from Chen to Hunter. “What’s happening?”

  “You should lie back down.” Chen pushed his hand down slowly. “Please.”

  “No. Tell me what’s going on.” She swiveled her gaze back to Hunter and locked it on him pleadingly.

  “Ava… there’s too much to tell you right now. Just trust me. I will tell you everything. But right now you need to concentrate on getting well. Please.” He looked up at her with such an entreating expression, she couldn’t ignore it.

  She found herself nodding.

  Chen let out another relieved breath. “If you could tell us anything that could help with your treatment, please do so. We’re struggling to push past the effects of your left armlet. It’s stopping us from healing your injuries.”

  Ava switched her attention back to her left side.

  She could feel the injury cutting across half her middle.

  The only reason she wasn’t dead was because of the power within her right side.

  So she closed her eyes, took a breath, and settled her mind into her body.

  … She couldn’t push past her left lock. But she could calm her mind enough to feel her body healing on its own.

  She jolted her eyes open. “I just need time. My left side will heal naturally on its own. For now I’ll be able to move around fine using my right side.”

  Hunter spluttered. “No, you can’t leave the med bay. Ava, you’re too injured.”

  “Hunter, I’m fine. Just as long as no one tries to stab me again.” Maybe she intended it as a joke, but it made Hunter shiver.

  She saw the shock and sick horror push across his features in a pale wave.

  “… Hunter?”

  “Please, just rest. I will tell you everything. Just allow your body a few hours to heal.”

  “Okay. I guess if I use some of the meditation techniques I’ve been taught, I may be able to help it along a bit.”

  Hunter offered her a slight smile.

  “Then you’ll tell me everything,” she insisted as she looked right up into his eyes.

  He held her gaze and nodded.

  There was something electric behind that nod.

  She felt it push into her skin and dart around her heart.

  She held on to that comfortable sensation as she shifted her back against the wall, drew her knees in, and closed her eyes.

  Chen and Hunter spoke in low voices for a few minutes before leaving her alone.

  She drew into herself, focusing her mind on her injury.

  It was hard. Terribly hard. She had to push away every fear, every question.

  But she had trust. Trust that Hunter would keep her safe and would reveal what was going on when she was ready.

  She held on to that trust and pushed her mind deeper.

  …

  Lieutenant Hunter McClane

  “She’s awake,” Hunter told Harvey over the comms system. Hunter couldn’t keep the relief from his voice. He couldn’t push it from his body either. It sat in every limb, a pleasant, warm energy that gave him the strength to push past his fatigue.

  “Thank god,” Harvey said with an echoing sigh. “You need to question her as soon as you can. We need to find out if the ambassador was right.”

  “Not yet, Harvey. She’s too weak. Soon though. How long until the Barkay arrives?”

  “Six hours.”

  “Crap,” Hunter swore.

  “They’re determined they’ll be taking her with them. Hunter, I’m doing what I can, but I can’t fight this.”

  There was a real note of fragility in Harvey’s voice. It saw nerves goad Hunter’s gut.

  He winced, locked a hand on his stomach, and closed his eyes.

  He knew his brother wasn’t lying.

  So what the hell were they going to do?

  If the Coalition couldn’t be swayed, then they’d be forced to give Ava up. To do anything else would be to violate orders.

  They shared an uncomfortable silence over the line until Harvey finally broke it. “There’s another option.”

  Hunter suddenly jerked his eyes open. “What?”

  Harvey withdrew into a pressured silence, and it was clear he was trying to decide whether to suggest something.

  “Harvey, what is it?”

  “You could leave the ship with Ava.”

  “… What?”

  “If you leave the ship with Ava, and you mask your tracks, the Barkay won’t know where you’ve gone.”

  “… That would be directly violating a Coalition order. Let alone theft of a Coalition ship,” Hunter summarized.

  “Yeah, it would be. But right now, I can’t see a way around this. I thought you’d be on board with this plan. You never liked orders much anyway.”

  Hunter couldn’t help but laugh at that. Never a truer statement was said.

  But this… this wouldn’t just land him court-martialed - he’d end up in prison, probably for the rest of his life.

  And if the Coalition ever found out that Harvey facilitated it, Harvey could kiss his career goodbye and join Hunter on some crappy prison world.

  Yet they both knew they had to do something.

  “Harvey… are you sure about this?”

  “They found her body ten minutes ago,” Harvey said in a hollow, distant voice.

  “What? Whose body?” Chills raced down Hunter’s back and into his gut.

  “You’re about to ask me why I’m doing this – and this is why: they found the ambassador’s body ten minutes ago. She was brutally murdered with Avixan weapons.”

  Hunter swallowed, locked a hand over his eyes, and shook his head.

  “That’s why I’m doing this. Hunter, I told Coalition command that she was in danger. I ordered them to keep an eye on her. They promised they would. They didn’t. The ambassador is dead. And by god, I plan to do something about it. Nobody takes my ship, takes my crew, and takes my Coalition. I’ve given my life for the Milky Way, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the Avixans negate that sacrifice.”

  Harvey’s words punched through Hunter’s WD.

  His brother’s forthright determination rang through Hunter’s gut until Hunter pulled his back up and stood at his full height.

  He let anger pulse through his heart. “I hear you. I’ll do it. But how? And isn’t the Coalition gonna figure this out? I mean, we are planning insubordination over a communication link. There’ll be a record.”

  Harvey snorted through a laugh. “On an ordinary ship that isn’t being rebuilt mid-flight, maybe. On the cursed Mandalay, definitely not. Plus, I’ll find other ways to keep them off your tail. All you have to do is take Ava and keep her safe.”

  Hunter twitched.

  He was actually going to do this, wasn’t he?

  “I can’t trust anyone else, Hunter. Not a soul. Not after Ha’vra attacked Ava. And you, you’ve proven yourself. You know what’s right, Hunter… even though sometimes I forget. Ava can rely on you. So can the Avixans and the rest of the Milky Way. You can do this.”

  Hunter’s shoulders pushed high around his ears as his body tensed.

  “Maybe you’re doubting yourself right now, but don’t. You’re a McClane. You were made for this.”

  Hunter winced his eyes closed.

  “I’ll make all the preparations. Talk to Ava when you get the chance. I want to know everything she does before you two leave. It will give me a chance to do my own investigations.”

  “Own investigations?” Hunter blinked an eye open and focused it on the scuffed floor. “What are you talking about?”

  “You opened my eyes, Hunter. You made me realize the only way we’re going to win this is if we understand it. I’m determined to find out everything about the Avixans. More importantly, I will try to confirm if this interplanetary lock exists. The ambassador was right – we can’t afford to let the Avixans drag the rest of the Coalition into war.”

  “We have no idea what that lock will do. Even if it exists. It could kill them all.”

  “I know that. We have a lot of questions. I have a lot of work to do. But I will get those answers. All you have to do is keep Ava safe until I find out what to do next. You got that?”

  Hunter paused, his back racing with nerves and yet energy. “Aye, Captain, I got that.”

  Harvey let out a soft chuckle. “I knew there was a reason I took you on board. Don’t let me down, Hunter.”

  “I won’t, Harvey.”

  “Alright, you know what you’ve got to do. I’ll let you know when your ship is ready.”

  Hunter nodded. “Got it.”

  “Oh, and, Hunter?”

  “What?”

  “Happy hunting.”

  Hunter couldn’t help but grin.

  …

  Ava

  She meditated for a solid four hours.

  Only when she felt her pain start to ebb did she stop.

  She settled her eyes open and let her hands drop into her lap.

  She took a deep breath.

  Chen walked across the room towards her and let out a soft whistle as he checked her bio signs. “That was amazing. I don’t know what you just did, but you managed to accelerate the healing process. You’re no longer at death’s door.”

  She moved to get up from the bed.

  He instantly put a hand out. “That being said, you’re still pretty injured. We need to keep an eye on you.”

  “I feel comfortable enough to move around, doctor. Now I need to find out what’s happening with my people. Please.”

  Her request humbled him, and he nodded. “I’ll call Hunter.”

  It didn’t take long for Hunter to come racing into the room.

  He looked tired. His usually handsome face was hooded with shadow, a ray of stubble covering his chin.

  He raced right up to her, a smile tugging at his cheeks. “You’re awake again. How are you feeling?”

  “Like there’s a hole in my side,” she said honestly.

  His smile fractured.

  “It’s okay,” she said through a soft laugh. “It was a joke. I’m feeling better. And Chen confirmed the healing process has accelerated.”

 

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