Denied - 101. Chapter 101

My heart cracked, but I ignored the pain in my chest. “Why not tell me?” I asked it in a quiet voice, not letting the others hear us.

“Because, like you feared, your mind isn’t safe.” Captain turned with regret heavy on his face, his head hanging slightly. “He can read you, Kohen. Your aura, your energy. He’s been tapped in since he started treating you on the ship.”

I stared at Captain, my mouth hanging open. I closed it with a hard swallow, my mouth suddenly drying. “What?” The crack spread from my heart to my throat, garbling the word nearly unrecognizable. What the hell was this aura thing they all kept going on about? Danie had just been talking about it too.

“Lakshou implanted suggestions in you, to help the Elites. We knew this, but what Aparoe and Freska found together was buried deep in your synapses. It put there and then intended to lay dormant until he triggered it.”

Just the thoughts of what Captain said made me want to dig into my own brain and rip out anything contaminated by the fatherless wastes of space. But I couldn’t. “Why? Why are you telling me this?” Why wasn’t I locked up? Or dead?

“I was going to be your trap.” The idea dawned on me even as I said the words. “You were using me as bait. Luring him in with his link to me so you could take him out.”

“Him and the last of the traitors. He really did need help; you have to be in range. That’s what blowing up that planet was intended to do, draw us out. So I obliged him.”

“But why tell me…?”

“Because your aura isn’t the same. You’re connected with more than just Lakshou now. You’re connected to Chomper. Or, you usually are.” Captain looked over my shoulder. “Danie?”

“The special chamber has masked that as we thought it would. Aparoe had to sedate him.”

“What?” Adrenaline surged through me and I spun on him. “You guys did what?” They’d sedated my Chomper?

“It’s for his own safety and yours. We don’t have much time. We’re almost done fighting off their advance, and then they’ll latch onto our hull. We’ll be breached and boarded. Lakshou will try to use you, Kohen, and then take you. To do that, he’ll have to get close.”

The anger left and a sick wave of fear washed over me. The emotional roller coaster was making me nauseated. “Why are you doing this? Why not just kill him? Shoot his ship up? I’m sure Deke has toys to do it.”

“What if he’s not on it, just using some technology making us think he is? What if he comes after us again? I will end this looking at our enemy in the face.” He reached out for me, and I flinched back, unable to stop the motion.

It’d been a while since that happened, and I hated the hurt in his eyes, but I feared the hurt his touch would bring me just as much. Because I knew, knew deep down, I wouldn’t feel pain at the warmth of his palm cupping my cheek, but I would feel the agony this decision cost him.

And I wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.

A jarring shudder shook the ship, lurching the floor out from under my feet abruptly. I fell backward, falling gracelessly in a heap with another crew member who was knocked out of their station.

“Hull breach, hull breach.” The ship’s AI was sounding the alarm. Crew members scrambled up, shouts and calls interrupted by hissing gases, beeps, bells, and alarms.

My head was ringing from the blow to the floor, but my vision was steady. All the fear, the anger, the nausea… those were gone. I was a blank slate as I rolled over. I pushed up to my knees, blinking as I panned across the command center. A breath later I was on my feet.

“Breach penetrated. Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Corridors seven and eight compromised.” They’d come in not far from where we were, meaning they had a good idea of the ship’s layout. Or just few options; the ship was pretty small compared to the first one we’d been on when Captain had rescued me.

I stood stock still, an ocean of calm amid the chaos as some of the crew tried to identify just how many came aboard with Lakshou while others set off traps and yet more crew members worked feverishly with the AI on the ship’s systems.

Danie stood at my back. “What are you doing?” he asked. I could barely hear him.

“Waiting.” My feet braced shoulder-width apart, my hands near my holsters, shoulders relaxed, I listened and monitored. The crew ignored me, as they often did when I visited Captain in the command center, and I turned most of my attention inward.

A stroke distracted me. I opened my eyes. “Kohen, are you okay?” Captain stood in front of me.

“Fine. Just fine.” I swallow. “Are you?”

“Not hurt. The ship? Not so great, but she’ll fly to a port to get healed, Freska says. Once we deal with this.” He waved a hand toward the vid monitoring the intrusion. The picture flickered and changed again as they moved closer.

“Thirty seconds until they reach the outer doors, Captain Querry,” said the helmsman. He was on ship-wide navigation while they weren’t moving. Drifting in space didn’t exactly take much skill or mathematical knowledge.

Metal screeching on metal was my cue. I burst into motion, pulling Captain against my body. “Don’t move,” I ordered the crew. “Not unless your role is absolutely necessary, and I give you permission. And remember all the time I spent in here, just watching before you try to trick me.” I glared at them dispassionately. “He’ll pay the price for any disobedience.”

The doors slid open. “Perfect timing.” That smooth, unctuous voice was like a douse of space. It froze everything, like not even the ship dared make a peep.