Interstellar Service and Discipline 03 Fallen Star.lit Page 7

  Metal struck hammer-blows against metal.

  Sobehk jerked at her side. “What in bloody Chaos ...?” He turned around to head up the corridor.

  “No! Don’t!” Fallon grabbed Sobehk’s arm. “If it’s who I think it is, you’ll only make him attack you. You don’t stand a chance against him unarmed.”

  The shriek of tearing metal followed. Shouts echoed down the corridor. Then wet crunches and choked screams.

  Sobehk tensed. “What the fuck is going on?”

  Fallon’s fingers tightened around Sobehk’s arm. “If we’re lucky, it’s nothing you guys can’t handle. If we’re not lucky, it’s a friend of mine.”

  “Isabeau, that doesn’t make sense.”

  A smallish, gangling, and completely naked human male came timidly down the hall. His face was plain, with ordinary brown eyes and a mop of bland blondish-brownish hair. He was one of those people you never looked twice at. He lifted his chin and moved his head from side to side. He appeared to be looking for something, or listening for something. A band of silver gleamed around his throat, and blood painted his bare arms almost to the shoulders.

  Sobehk frowned and set his hand on Fallon’s shoulder. “Where in bloody Chaos are his handlers?”

  Fallon stared at the blood-soaked arms and fought off a shiver. “They’re probably dead.”

  “The collar is for controlling killing aggression ...” Sobehk glanced down at her. “Is that your friend? ”

  Fallon swallowed and nodded. And she had thought her luck couldn’t possibly get any worse. “He’s a nano-based mimetic cyborg. I doubt your collar has any effect on him.”

  “The collar has some effect; he’s obviously sightless.” Sobehk glanced down at Fallon. “Wait a minute -- he’s mimetic? ”

  Fallon nodded slowly. “He shape-changes.”

  “Who is this guy?”

  Fallon winced. “Tusk is my company’s assassin.”

  “A mimetic cyborg assassin.” Sobehk rolled his eyes. “Great.”

  “And he’s good. He’s single-minded, single-purposed, and has never failed a mission.” Well, he had failed once. That was how she found out how to take him out if she ever needed it. The following week, she’d had her augmentation upgraded for dexterity and speed.

  The young man’s head came up. He stared straight at Fallon with unfocused eyes. “There you are, Izzie!”

  “Oh, hi, Tusk.” She pasted a smile on her lips. “What’s going on?”

  The young man smiled. “Oh, the boss wanted to see you.”

  “He did?” Fallon kept her hands open and loose at her sides while slowly moving in front of Sobehk. “Why didn’t anybody tell me?”

  Tusk shrugged. “Couldn’t find you.”

  “Oh, that’s right ...” Fallon rolled her eyes and glanced up at Sobehk. “Some guy was chasing me all over the station.”

  Tusk shuffled gracelessly toward her, smiling absently. “Rudi said you’d be here, so I waited for you.”

  Fallon frowned. “He did?” How in bleeding fury had Rudi known that she would end up here? “How long were you waiting?”

  Tusk pursed his lips. “Three days or so.”

  Three days? Fallon felt her temper surge. Rudi had set her up. That back-stabbing son of a bitch ...

  Sobehk glanced down at Fallon. “Who’s Rudi?”

  Fallon scowled. “This guy I made my last delivery to. New guy, stinks of the Imperium. He tipped me for the delivery and gave me a pass to the club where I met you -- three days ago.”

  Sobehk frowned. “That sounds like a setup.”

  “Yep, it sure does.” Fallon glanced at him. “The question here is, why?”

  Tusk tilted his head. “Rudi told the boss you didn’t make the delivery.”

  “He ... what?” Impending doom dried her mouth. You did not ever miss a delivery. “Tusk, he lied.”

  “Oh ... That’s too bad.” Tusk’s brows lifted then fell. “Because I gotta bring you back to talk to him, or kill you.” He sucked on his bottom lip. “But we’re in space already, and I don’t know how to fly the ship, so we can’t go back.”

  An icy sweat soaked her back. “Tusk, I’m sure something can be arranged ...”

  Tusk shook his head and eased closer. “No, I don’t think so.”

  Sobehk stiffened and grabbed Fallon by the shoulder. “He’s not terrifically bright, is he?” He pulled her behind him.

  “No, but he is terrifically deadly.” Fallon shoved back in front of him. “Do not get in front of his target.”

  Tusk sighed and smeared a hand across his cheek, staining his face with blood. “I’m gonna miss you, Isabeau.”

  Sobehk frowned. “Is he actually crying?”

  Fallon winced. “Yes. He does that, right before he attacks.”

  Tusk shuddered violently.

  Fallon licked her lips. “Now’s a good time to get your knife out, and if you have a spare, I’d love to have it.”

  “I don’t have a spare.” Sobehk drew his long dagger from his boot and moved to Fallon’s side.

  Fallon dropped her voice to barely a whisper. “His only weak spot is at the base of his skull in the back just below the data jack. Nothing else will have any real effect on him.”

  “Got it.” Sobehk flipped the dagger in his palm. “Just stay out of the way.”

  Fallon frowned at him. Stay out of the way, my ass. “Sobehk, he’s really, really fast. I hope you have dexterity in your augmentation. You’re going to need it.”

  “I’m not exactly a slow-ass.” Sobehk snorted. “I got you, didn’t I?”

  Fallon flashed him a bitter smile. “Yeah, after three days of little food and less sleep.”

  Sobehk grinned. “That doesn’t change the fact that you are currently wearing a collar.”

  Fallon rolled her eyes. “That ego of yours is going to get you in trouble.” She shook her hands and bounced on her toes to trigger her augmentations. She did not want to be dealing with Tusk barehanded, but it looked like she didn’t have much of a choice. Sobehk was going to need a distraction. She just hoped to the Maker that Sobehk was up to speed.

  Shaking and twitching, Tusk flung his arms to the sides, and his head fell back. He wailed and stretched ... and thinned. His arms extended and reshaped themselves from the elbow out into long, curved blades. His feet lengthened until he stood on double-jointed legs, balancing on elongated, clawed toes. His head reshaped and stretched into a muzzle. His mouth split his head nearly in half, full of long, jagged teeth. His skin hardened into pale, skin-toned scales.

  Sobehk curled his lip and dropped into a fighting crouch. “Oh, that’s pleasant-looking.”

  “Personally, I was hoping to never see it.” Fallon nibbled on her bottom lip and promptly stabbed it. Damned fangs.

  Tusk’s head came forward. He focused on Fallon and raised his bladed arms. “Time to die, Isabeau Fallon.” The words were barely recognizable coming from that gaping maw.

  Fallon took a calming breath and gathered herself. Time to see if her technician had done his job right. She lunged for the company nightmare.

  Sobehk shouted.

  Fallon dove, rolling under Tusk’s swinging blade. She rolled up onto her feet behind him -- and dodged Tusk’s second swing as he turned with blinding speed.

  Behind them, Sobehk lunged into the fray, dodging swings and opening harrying cuts along Tusk’s sides and flanks.

  Tusk turned from one to the other, snapping and slashing at both. His foot lashed out and caught Sobehk in the gut, propelling him into a wall.

  “Oh, shit!” Fallon lunged in and slammed her fist into where Tusk’s kidneys ought to be, then dodged his retaliating bite.

  Sobehk climbed to his feet and came toward them, shaking his head. He was not moving well. Tusk’s kick must have struck something.

  Need a distraction! Need a distraction! Need a distraction! Fallon lunged toward the side wall, leaping up and catching it with her feet to shove herself toward the opposite wall,
dodging another swing. She bounced off the wall and back-flipped out of range, drawing Tusk further down the hall and away from Sobehk.

  The guy Fallon had spoken to hadn’t been kidding when he said Tusk was fast. She only hoped she had enough energy to keep moving until Sobehk could take out Tusk’s head.

  Fallon ducked another swing and saw Sobehk grab Tusk around the slender throat from behind. The knife rose ...

  Tusk’s arm moved into an impossible angle and stabbed backwards and sideways -- straight into Sobehk’s side under the ribs, and came out the other side.

  Sobehk’s eyes widened and he froze.

  Fallon gasped. No ... It didn’t look real. The blade went in, the blade came out covered in red ... but it didn’t look real at all.

  Tusk pulled his arm free and Sobehk dropped. The knife clattered to the deck.

  Fallon stared in shock as blood pooled under Sobehk’s body. No ... Lightning seared up her spine and engulfed her skull. A white-hot blaze of rage erupted within her. “No!” Fallon focused on the nightmare, and the entire universe slowed to a crawling bloody haze. A liquid growl vibrated deep in her chest. “Kill you ...”

  She dove under Tusk’s lazy swing. Skimming low across the floor, she snatched up the fallen knife. The handle was warm from Sobehk’s hand. The smell of blood filled the hall with thick copper heat. She dropped to her knees, skidding into a turn then pushed off the wall for more momentum, and launched herself at the nightmare. She set the dagger in her teeth, biting down on the blade. Kill ...

  Tusk’s movements seemed incredibly slow. It was almost easy to dodge his bladed swings and get behind him.

  She leapt up and scaled his long back by stabbing her fingers and toes through cool scaled hide into the warm wetness under it. Funny, she’d always thought his scales were harder than that.

  Gripping him with her dug-in toes, she pressed flat against his cold back to avoid his blades. Taking the dagger from her teeth, she jammed the blade with all her strength up into the base of his skull. “Kill you! ”

  The blade went in just above the data jack, and up, sliding past a bony ridge to encounter some resistance within, then slid all the way in to the hilt. She twisted the dagger deep in his skull. “Die!” White-hot blood sprayed, covering her chest with thick, slippery heat.

  The nightmare collapsed, howling, and she rode it down, holding the dagger and screaming.

  Voices shouted.

  “Blood and hell!”

  “Sobehk!”

  “What the fuck happened?”

  Her head came up. She could barely see through the wetness on her face. People with long white hair were running toward her with long blades in their hands. She grabbed for the dagger, but it wouldn’t come free

  “What in fury is that?”

  “It’s dead ... whatever it is.”

  “It looks like she killed it.”

  She lunged for Sobehk and straddled him. She snarled in warning. If they tried to touch him, she would make them bleed.

  The shouting people surrounded her. They all smelled wrong. She didn’t know any of them.

  “We have to get him to the medlab!”

  “Watch out, she’s in rahyt .”

  “Who’s got the collar codes?”

  “I do.”

  Lightning exploded in her skull. She fell to the deck screaming as sanity and consciousness were savagely torn from her grasp.

  Chapter Eight

  Fallon tried to stay asleep, but the nagging pounding in her head wouldn’t let her. No, she did not want to wake up; something bad was waiting for her. She twisted, trying to go back to sleep, and discovered that she couldn’t move.

  Her eyes snapped open and she saw ... blackness. She blinked. Still nothing but utter and unrelieved darkness. She rotated her wrists and shifted her knees. She was lying on her back naked and spread wide, harnessed into something that was keeping her completely immobile and suspended. A broad strap was all that kept her head from falling back.

  She was absolutely helpless.

  Terror washed through her, followed by hot anger. “Sobehk!” She tugged harder. “Sobehk, what the fuck did you do to me?”

  Memory crashed. Her breath stopped and her heart tried to stop with it. The nightmare, Sobehk being stabbed and falling, the blood ... the killing.

  Sobehk ...A fist of pain and terror crushed her heart. He couldn’t be dead! He couldn’t leave her like this. He was all she had left. She threw her head back and shouted. “Sobehk, you better not be dead!”

  But everybody always left ... everybody.

  Her breath rushed out on a sob then refused to return. She couldn’t catch her breath, she couldn’t breathe. Panic engulfed her. Her breath returned in a rush only to leave her on a scream. “Sobehk!” Tears burned down her cheeks. “Don’t leave me!”

  Somewhere at her feet she heard hurried footsteps. Her heart leaped with hope.

  “Isabeau?” The voice wasn’t Sobehk’s.

  Disappointment slammed her back down. She swallowed past the ache in her throat. “Who’s there?”

  The footsteps moved to her side. His scent was rich and vaguely familiar.

  “Sehnbay’syr Tah. Are you all right?”

  Oh, right, the master-surgeon. “Where’s Sobehk?” She twisted in the harness and winced against the pain stabbing her skull.

  “He’s recovering from surgery.”

  She stilled. “He’s alive?”

  “Very much so.”

  “Thank the Maker.” Every drop of energy washed out of her body and she collapsed into the harness’s embrace.

  A cool hand pressed against her face. “How do you feel?”

  Like shit. Fallon groaned. “Do you have anything for a headache?”

  “Just a moment.”

  Fallon felt something press against the inside bend of her elbow. There was a slight hydraulic hiss. Her headache faded. She sighed in relief. “Thank you. Can I see him?”

  Tah took a deep breath. “Are you hungry?”

  Fallon opened her mouth to say “not really,” and her stomach seized up on her. She bucked in the harness, trying to fold in half, and moaned. She was starving. Blood and hell, hunger never hurt this bad! She panted for breath. “Now that you mention it, do you have any deep fried bovines on you? Preferably a whole one?”

  The master-surgeon chuckled dryly. “I have A’syr Mohr with me. He’s brought you some dinner.”

  Fallon sniffed. Something smelled warm, meaty, and delicious. Her stomach gurgled in demand. She blinked into the darkness. How was she supposed to eat like this? “How come it’s so dark in here?”

  Tah’s fingers brushed her arm. “It is not dark. You’re temporarily sightless.”

  Fallon frowned. “You blinded me? What for?”

  The master-surgeon’s cool hand grasped her fingers. “Blinding is standard procedure for all rehkyt in processing.”

  “Oh ... When can I see Sobehk?”

  Tah removed his hand and clothing rustled. “Tomorrow you will be brought to medical to speak with A’syr Sobehk.”

  Fallon’s felt a sudden chill. “Am I in trouble?”

  “No, you are not.” Tah’s voice came from the vicinity of her feet. “You were quite obviously acting on your impression.” He sighed. “However, there are ... complications.”

  That didn’t sound good at all. “What complications?” And what in bloody fury was this damned impression thing they kept mentioning?

  “Eat your dinner and be good, Isabeau. Everything will work out just fine.” His footsteps receded.

  Fallon took a breath to call him back. What complications, damn it? She groaned instead. “Why can’t somebody just give me a fucking straight answer around here?”

  Someone chuckled. “Hungry?” The masculine voice was at her left ear.

  Fallon jumped. She didn’t recognize the voice. Oh, that must be A’syr Mohr. He was the one with the food. She relaxed. “Starved, but ...” She frowned and tugged at her boun
d wrists. “How am I supposed to eat like this? I can’t even see!”

  He chuckled. “I’ll set you upright so you don’t choke.”

  Fallon blinked. “Okay.” Upright would definitely be an improvement over being flat on her back ... and defenseless. She waited for him to do something about whatever was binding her wrists so she could sit up.

  The rig vibrated and the whole thing moved until her feet were in the direction of the floor.

  “Better?”

  “Uh, sure.” She sucked on her bottom lip. Oh, yeah, what an improvement. She was upright, but still bound hand and foot. Oddly, she didn’t feel quite so defenseless.

  “I’m putting the food to your lips. Open and swallow.”

  Something pressed against her mouth. She opened and a cube of something juicy and delicious was pushed in. Food at last! She attempted to chew, but her teeth wouldn’t let her jaw move side to side. Her fangs overlapped, keeping her jaw locked in one position. She tried again and stabbed her bottom lip.

  “Don’t try to chew it!” Mohr chuckled. “Swallow it.”

  Fallon shifted it to the side of her mouth. “Swallow it? Whole?”

  “Yes. Your teeth are not designed for chewing.”

  “Huh ...” She struggled to chew what she had in her mouth then finally gave up and swallowed it. It lodged in her throat like a rock then something in the very base of her throat seemed to close around it, crushing it smaller. It passed into her stomach with ease. She sighed in relief. “So what are my teeth designed for?”

  “Biting.” Another morsel of food was pressed to her lips. “Open.”

  Biting? Great ...She opened and swallowed. Eating swiftly developed into a new kind of torture. She couldn’t chew and she couldn’t wipe her chin when it dribbled. For some reason, the dribbling annoyed the piss out of her more than the inability to chew.

  “You’re scowling.” A soft cloth swiped across her chin. “Is something wrong?”

  Fallon turned her head away from the next bit of food and licked her lips. “Why am I tied up like this? Why can’t I see?”

  Footsteps moved away then returned. “All the rehkyt are blinded and harnessed. It’s for their safety.”

  “I wasn’t before.”