Chapter Six
Suki wouldn’t admit that she was nervous and more than a little scared. She might have been safer at home, but knowing there were other women out there, suffering and possibly having lost hope, she knew that she needed to help in any way possible. Before Tark had found her, Suki had thought she would die in that brothel. The only thing that had kept her going was knowing that Yoko was there too. She couldn’t leave her sister.
Her heart still ached when she thought of Yoko. Her sister had used the last of her energy to ensure that Tark would come save her. Yoko hadn’t deserved to die such a horrible death, no one did, and Suki still felt like it was her fault they’d been captured. Yoko had had had such a bright future, and now she was gone. Tears misted her eyes when she thought about never getting to hug her sister again, never getting to talk about boys or laugh over stupid things. After they’d been sold and put into service, she’d doubted they would ever see their home again, but some small part of her had hoped they would find a way to escape.
Now Suki was the only one free, and Yoko had died. Thankfully, Tark had been there and poor Yoko hadn’t been alone at the end. She’d gotten to see the cyborg’s kind eyes. If only Tark could have saved both of them! Suki knew that Yoko that would have loved Xpashta, and possibly even found a cyborg of her own. Maybe Rorwick would have liked Yoko. She still felt bad that Jillian had left, leaving the cyborg looking broken and defeated. If he was a friend of Tark’s, then Suki had no doubt that he was honorable and would be kind to whatever female he claimed. Her mate wouldn’t be friends with someone who would harm a female.
Suki stared at the door to their quarters, her hands trembling and her heart pounding. She’d been assured that it was safe to move freely on board, that she was protected. They’d been on board for two days and so far, she hadn’t left their room without Tark by her side. No one had said or done anything to offend her, or that made her feel threatened. Tark had told her that his people were now her people. It had been so long since she’d had anyone other than Yoko, it felt strange to depend on other people and she found it hard to trust other aliens after all that had happened to her.
Squaring her shoulders, Suki approached the door and when it slid open, she stepped into the corridor. Looking one way then the other, she saw that she was completely alone. She made her way toward the front of the ship in hopes she’d find Tark along the way. He had left this morning before her, or what she assumed to be morning, and she had no idea where he would be. A few cyborgs smiled at her as she passed, but none made a move to get closer to her. Suki breathed a little easier and kept up her search for Tark.
“Good morning, Suki,” Querrill said as she passed the med bay.
“Good morning,” she said, then frowned. “But how do you know it’s morning? You don’t wear watches and all you can see outside is open space.”
He smiled faintly. “Cyborg, remember? Consider it a perk. Besides, once you’re used to being out in space, you become in tune with the cycle of a day, even when there aren’t suns or moons.”
She nodded. It had never happened for her, that attunement to the day, but then she wasn’t a super soldier alien. She peered into the med bay, but still didn’t see her mate.
“Looking for Tark?” Querrill asked.
“Yes. Have you seen him?”
The cyborg hesitated.
“What? Is something wrong with Tark?” she asked, feeling panic well inside her again.
“Not exactly, but he isn’t on board right now,” Querrill said.
“Not on…” She blinked. “Where is he?”
“They infiltrated the brothel. He’s part of the crew searching for the human females. While it’s not run by the same male who held you captive, the proprietor is just as nasty. The females aren’t treated well. I’ve put out a call to a few other races in search of mates in hopes they may come rescue more of the workers.”
“But Tark is fine, right? He’ll be back?” she asked.
“Any mission is dangerous, Suki. Tark will do his best to come back to you safely, but I won’t lie to you and guarantee that he’ll come back.”
She bit her lip and gave him a nod, then moved further down the corridor. She was nearing the bridge when alarms started blaring. Suki pressed herself to the wall and stared, wide-eyed, not knowing what it meant or where she should go. Booted steps ran toward her and she turned in time to see Norkov rushing in her direction. He didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate, just scooped her up as he ran. When they reached the command center, he deposited her onto a chair and sealed the room.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Norkov, why are the alarms going off?”
“Breach,” he said. “The bastard who owns this place had security and we didn’t detect them. Must have camouflaged their heat readouts somehow.”
“And the men who went into the brothel?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Suki. I lost communication with them seconds before the alarms went off. I’m glad I found you quickly. If you’d been in your quarters, it would have been much harder to reach you in time.”
“Wh-what do you mean you lost communications? Are they…” She swallowed hard. “Are they dead?”
“No.” He frowned. “I don’t think so. It’s probably a safety precaution. Or maybe the signal was scrambled by the owner of the brothel. If he has a security team, he likely has other measures in place. We underestimated him.”
There was noise outside the door -- it sounded like blasts of some sort. Norkov grimaced and turned to the controls, tapping on the keys until a view of the area outside the sealed door appeared on the screen. Large orange aliens with multiple arms and bald heads were trying to open the door while one at the back fired on someone further down the hall.
“Can they get in here?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. They shouldn’t be able to, but the doors have never been tested against a Terok before. They’re typically muscle for hire, but I’ve never seen one on this sector before,” Norkov said.
Another sound went off, making Suki tense as Norkov started cursing. “A ship is docking on our other side and coming aboard. We could possibly fight off the Teroks, but it looks like four more life-forms just came on board.”
