Star Alliance (4 page)

 
Zack focused his will and forced his eyes to open. The room he was in was so dark that he could hardly see anything. He pushed the fogginess from his brain and began to wake up. The pain in his leg and side was gone. He tried to move again, but he was strapped against the table. A door on the far side of the room opened, and a soft amber glow streamed into the room. Zack squinted as he peered through the doorway. A large shape filled the area, and Zack noted the third appendage that hung to the floor behind it.

Xiiginn!
The thought blazed through his mind like lightning, and his breath caught in his lungs. Zack struggled against his restraints, but they wouldn’t budge.

“Don’t try to move. You’re being restrained for your own protection.”

Zack stopped moving. He tried to access Athena through his implants, but there was no response. He flexed his wrists and realized that his PDA was gone.

“Where am I?” Zack asked.

“Safe,” the Xiiginn said.

Zack followed its movements by the dim amber lighting engaged along the wall. The Xiiginn turned around, and Zack noticed stark white skin that seemed to give off its own glow. Icy cold fear settled in the pit of his stomach.

“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. I am Mar Arden.”

Zack clamped his mouth shut, refusing to speak. He looked around, trying to find the nearest exit, and then his gaze settled back on Mar Arden.

“Surely members of your species have names,” Mar Arden said.

“Zack,” he said finally.

“Excellent,” Mar Arden said. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Why can’t I move?” Zack asked, refusing to let the Xiiginn dispel his suspicions.

“It was for your protection. You were wounded and were brought here for healing,” Mar Arden said.

“Thank you. I’m feeling better now. Will you let me go?” Zack asked.

Mar Arden raised his chin while his dark eyes peered at Zack. “It’s not that simple.”

“Of course,” Zack said. He wanted to get up off this bed, but he knew he couldn’t. He was completely at the Xiiginn’s mercy, and Mar Arden seemed to be waiting for Zack to arrive at that conclusion.

“We will let you go after we’ve had a chance to speak with you,” Mar Arden said.

“Really,” Zack said, fighting to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“I will answer any questions you may have in return for your cooperation.”

“Why is it so dark in here?” Zack asked.

“A necessary precaution,” Mar Arden said.

“Against what?”

Mar Arden stepped closer to the bed, and the dim lighting cast long shadows over his features, distorting them. His green eyes reflected the light that made him look both menacing and perfectly sculpted. If Zack could have run away, he would have, but he couldn’t be completely sure why he was so afraid in the first place.

“I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. You’ve been misinformed about my race,” Mar Arden said, the menacing shadows leaving his face only to be replaced by genuine impassiveness.

The Xiiginn raised his wrist and tapped a few commands into the controls, and Zack felt the pressure that was holding him in place lessen slightly. Then the straps holding him in place retracted. Zack tentatively tried to raise his hands and was able to do so. He sat up and then stood.

“There, that’s better,” Mar Arden said. “It took us a short while to figure out what treatment would heal your wounds. The tiredness you’re feeling will pass. Now, will you answer some of my questions?”

Zack glanced at the doorway behind Mar Arden and knew his chances of getting past the Xiiginn were slim to none. “Sure,” Zack said.

“Why did you attack the research facility on Selebus and then later attack one of our cruisers?” Mar Arden asked.

Zack pressed his lips together in thought. The snarky answer he wanted to give probably wasn’t the smartest one. “We didn’t attack the research facility.”

Mar Arden stepped closer, and Zack became aware of the bulging muscles beneath the dark, mesh-like armor the Xiiginns wore. This Xiiginn was a good six inches taller than Zack. A switch clicked in his brain, and the overwhelming fear that had been building in him was pushed back.

“You mean the facility where you experimented on the Nershals? Is that the research facility you’re talking about?” Zack asked.

Mar Arden’s hand sprang up toward Zack’s face with lightning speed, but the Xiiginn retracted it just as quickly.

“We know you were with the Boxans,” Mar Arden said.

Zack remained silent.
 

Mar Arden roared as he snatched Zack by his neck and slammed him against the wall, holding him above the floor.

“I’ve tried being civil to you,” Mar Arden said through clenched teeth, “but my patience is wearing thin. The attack on the cruiser cost many lives. I know you weren’t alone.”

“And I know you aren’t concerned about the lives on the cruiser,” Zack said between gasps.
 

He braced himself for another blow, but Mar Arden set him back on the floor. Zack collapsed to his knees, gasping, as Mar Arden stepped away and waited. With trembling hands, Zack slowly regained his feet.

“What makes you think the lives on the cruiser don’t matter to me?” Mar Arden asked.

“I’ve seen the genetic experiments you’ve done on the Nershals. Anyone who could do that doesn’t hold other people’s lives in high regard,” Zack said.

Mar Arden looked at him for a moment. “So I should just skip the formalities and do what I want to you?”

Zack’s breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t see a way out of this. He was alone.

“There were others with you. Why don’t you tell me about them?” Mar Arden asked.

Zack opened his mouth to answer but stopped himself. Mar Arden’s gaze intensified, and Zack felt as if there were something pressing in on his head. It made thinking difficult. The beginnings of a major headache formed, and Zack winced in pain.

“You can’t control me,” Zack said through clenched teeth. The pain grew to an excruciating level, and Zack collapsed to the floor, crying out.

Mar Arden squatted down and grabbed Zack by his hair, lifting his head up. “And yet you’re the one on your knees.”
 

Zack felt his consciousness begin to slip, and his field of vision became smaller and smaller.
 

Mar Arden smiled, and the pressure was gone. “In this you are mistaken. You’ll find that we can control a great many things. What is your species called?”

Zack glared defiantly at the Xiiginn.

Mar Arden stood back up and went over to the wall, where he keyed in a security code, and a panel opened. He retrieved a silver rod and closed the panel.

“The physiology of every species is truly enlightening. One thing we’ve found across all species so far is the innate avoidance of pain,” Mar Arden said. The Xiiginn crossed back over to Zack and held the silver rod in front of his face. “This has been configured for
your
physiology since we’ve had a small amount of time to study it. When I activate the field, it will cause your central nervous system to react. With a flip of a switch I can cause you to know pleasures you’ve never thought possible or pain you’ve never imagined.”

Zack’s eyes widened, and he tried to shuffle away across the floor.

Mar Arden crossed the distance in two strides. “Now, what is your species called? Where is your star system?”

Zack’s eyes locked onto the rod, and he tried to brace himself.

Mar Arden’s face twisted into a sneer, and the tip of the rod glowed blue.

In an instant Zack felt like his entire body were engulfed in flames. Every inch of his skin felt as if it were melting away. He screamed and rubbed his hands all over, trying to get the pain to stop. It hurt so much that tears streamed from his eyes. “Humans!” Zack shouted. “We call ourselves Humans.”

The pain stopped, but it took a few moments for Zack to realize it.

“Humans, excellent. Now, how did you come to be in the Nershal star system?” Mar Arden asked and leaned in.

Zack felt the pressure intensify in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut. “No!” he growled and lashed out with his fist, catching Mar Arden by surprise.

The Xiiginn was knocked back, and Zack scrambled for the door, but something caught hold of his feet, and he went down. Zack struggled to move as he was pulled back into the room. Mar Arden had his back to him and Zack glanced at his bound feet, realizing that the Xiiginn had used his tail to capture him. Mar Arden pivoted with his hips, and Zack was swung through the air and slammed into the wall.

Mar Arden released him and waited for Zack to sit up.

“Now that the useless escape attempt has been gotten out of the way, are you ready to answer my questions?” Mar Arden asked.

Zack tasted copper in his mouth and spat blood onto the floor. “Go to hell,” Zack said.

Mar Arden laughed. “Wrong answer,” he said, and the rod in his hand glowed. It was the last thing Zack saw before he became engulfed in pain.

Zack woke up with his face on the floor. His body ached so badly that he didn’t try to move. He just stared in front of him. The floor felt wet under his face.

“I don’t have time for this,” Mar Arden said.

Zack glanced up, and his heart thundered in his chest, but Mar Arden wasn’t speaking to him.

“There is increasing unrest on Nerva. Your presence has been requested on the Nershal home world.”

The two Xiiginn glanced toward him, and Zack shut his eyes, pretending to be unconscious.

“We need to release a statement about the information leak from the research facility that was attacked.”

“Fine, Kandra can take over for me,” Mar Arden said. “This species is highly resistant to compulsion. I think some time in the pit should soften his resolve.”

“According to his vital signs, he’s awake.”

Zack opened his eyes and saw Mar Arden’s sneering gaze.

“I know,” Mar Arden said.

The stomping of boots came toward him and a Xiiginn roughly pulled Zack to his feet. Zack couldn’t stand on his own, and his head sagged to his chest.

Mar Arden stepped closer to him. “You’ll learn, Human. Trusting the Boxans is a fatal mistake.”

C
HAPTER
F
IVE

N
EEDING
TO
GET
some distance from the Boxans, Kaylan was back on the Athena for a few hours. Traversing between the two ships was significantly easier thanks to the Boxans. They had connected the two vessels by using an emergency docking tube that extended a hundred meters in length. The ends of the tubes were able to seal themselves around one of the Athena’s airlocks. The dark gray material was both flexible and strong while maintaining a rigid structure once it was programmed in. Getting back and forth between the two ships took only minutes now.
 

Kaylan headed to the science lab where Emma waited for her, hunched over a microscope.

“Efren, I told you Kaylan was coming up here. The hydroponics lab will have to wait,” Emma said.

Kaylan cleared her throat. “Efren come here often?” she asked.

Emma looked up from the microscope and grinned. Her short dark hair was pushed back behind her ears. “Just this morning. He’s a little on edge. We all are. But how are you doing?” Emma asked.

“I’m fine,” Kaylan said a little too quickly. “I’m sorry. It’s almost automatic.”

“No need to apologize to me. Still no luck finding anything in the wreckage?”

Kaylan shook her head. “Kladomaor says it’s not safe to keep searching.”

A soft chime sounded from the speaker near them. “The Boxan’s risk assessment is correct. Significant potential of our presence being detected increases the longer we stay here,” Athena’s AI said.

Kaylan frowned at the speaker, but the ship’s artificial intelligence was just speaking the facts. She had been encouraging the AI to share its insights with the crew more. “What about your own analysis, Athena?” Kaylan asked.

“The instrumentation available was insufficient to track all of the escape pods leaving the Xiiginn cruiser. There is a seventy percent probability that Zack Quick was taken to Selebus and a thirty percent chance of Zack Quick being moved to the Nershal home world,” Athena said.

Kaylan frowned. “How did you arrive at these probabilities?”

“By leveraging my connection to the Boxan ship’s computer. Before going to the Xiiginn cruiser, Zack had requested that an open connection between our two systems be allowed. Currently that connection is still authorized. According to the computer systems aboard the Boxan ship, the escape pods were brought to Selebus. However, ship traffic between the Nershal home world and Selebus has increased since the Xiiginn cruiser’s destruction. I estimated that some of the crew members returned to the Nershal home world based upon the ship’s capacity for additional passengers. I apologize that I cannot be of further assistance,” the AI said.

Kaylan shared a glance with Emma. “No, you did a good job. I can find no fault with your reasoning,” Kaylan said.

“Athena,” Emma said. “Are you able to connect to Zack’s PDA?”

“Not since the destruction of the Xiiginn cruiser. I am monitoring for it, and there are a number of reasons for lack of communication, ranging from a malfunction to the device simply being powered off,” Athena said.