Page 17 of Aura Awakened
A second alarm begins to scream, alternating with the first one. Amber lights flash along the ceiling, and the Malifects searching the room are still screeching. Dazed prisoners begin staggering out of their pods; some are weak or ill, but others, those with stronger constitutions, are just pissed.
Chaos erupts; Aura has just unleashed a bunch of angry aliens with a common enemy. I watch as an enormous, hairy creature with tusks and three legs lurches out of its pod, enraged and looking for payback. It lumbers toward the Malifects, who are shouting and waving their weapons around, trying to regain control. More of the slavers are pouring into the cargo hold, but if we keep freeing prisoners, they’ll be outnumbered.
I catch Aura’s gaze from down the row and she grins at me. “Well?” she shouts over the alarms. “Are you going to help or what?”
I nod and follow her lead, popping open pods and pulling the gas lines. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a Gothelian emerging, fire in his eyes and probably in his heart. If he gets near the Malifects, they’ll be toast. Literally.
As I race down the rows, freeing everyone I can, I get a sudden sense of motion. I pause and listen as hard as I can through all the mayhem. It sounds like the engines have revved up. With an insurrection on their hands, maybe the Malifects are abandoning the Somnambulis for now and focusing their efforts on the prisoners. A gruesome screech splits the air and I turn to see the Gothelian scorching a Malifect. To his right, the three-legged beast is goring another with its tusks.
A green-skinned Caimanite has a third Malifect’s head trapped in its vicious jaws; the slaver is not long for this world. Other prisoners are still slumped on the floor, shivering and retching, but it won’t be long before they’re on their feet.
I check the nanocraft’s remote and a surge of relief washes through me. Finally!
Running, I weave through the ruckus, ducking and swerving to avoid fire, blasts, punches, and teeth. I find Aura and sling an arm around her waist.
“Time to go!” I shout.
“But what about everyone else?”
“We’ve done what we can. There’s no room for them on my ship, but the prisoners have a good chance of defeating the Malifects, especially if they start waking the ones in the other hold.”
She looks reluctant, but she seems to agree. “Yeah, okay.
I press the button on the remote, activating the ship. With one last glance, I initialize the transporter, teleporting us away from the pandemonium.
The calm and quiet of the nanocraft is almost startling. I don’t waste any time; I have no idea what’s going to happen on the Grim ship, but if the slaves somehow blow it up or something, I don’t want to be in the blast radius.
We have to make a choice. The jump gate is a two-day journey. I can either wait there for any ship to appear and open it, or I can hide here and follow this ship when it goes back. Assuming it does. I have no idea what those prisoners might do to the thing.
All right, first things first. Hide, then decide.
I point Aura toward the co-pilot’s seat and slide into my own, checking the scanners. There’s a quantum moon just outside the nebula; we should be able to avoid detection if we hide on the dark side of it. It takes only minutes to engage the engines and get out of the nebula’s wake, and then we’re cruising behind the moon. From here, I can monitor the Malifect ship and follow it if it moves, but we won’t show up on their sensors unless they think to look for us here. I double check my own sensors, just in case there’s a better place to hide, but I’m not finding anything. Then again, they can’t identify seventy-five percent of the weirdness in this part of space.
Once we’re as settled as we can get, I check on Aura. She’s a little sweaty and there’s a scratch on her shoulder—one not caused by my own thorns, that is—but she looks mostly unharmed.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
She stares at me, her cerulean eyes wide. I can’t quite discern her expression. It’s not fear, exactly. Something between confused and worried, maybe.
“Aura? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She just keeps staring, ignoring my questions. I repeat her name, but she doesn’t react.
We haven’t discussed it yet, so she might consider this a violation, but I’ll take the chance. Using the power of our star-bond, I let myself feel her emotions. As I suspected, it’s a mixture of trepidation and concern, with just a tinge of fright. I touch on the outer edges of her thoughts, light as a raindrop. I can’t read any thoughts she isn’t willingly sharing, but since she’s currently unaware of our telepathic bond, something might slip through.
It takes a few seconds of probing, but then I find it.
What? What’s he saying? Why can’t I understand? What’s happening?
Oh, shit, of course. Now that we’re here, we’re out of range of the Malifect translation matrix.
I reach out and place a calming hand on her arm, though I can tell from her surging emotions that it doesn’t quell anything.
“Aura, it’s okay. Just give it a minute. I promise everything will be fine.”
When she still doesn’t react, I grip both of her shoulders and maintain steady eye contact, flooding her with as many of my pheromones as I can. It’s time to finish activating the bond between us once and for all.
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