Chapter Text
The whole thing got fucked so quickly. It would’ve been almost impressive how fast everything turned to shit if I weren’t the one who had to fix it. It started when the beacon didn’t launch on schedule and kill all these hostiles plus me. Then Mensah arrived, practically handing herself over as a hostage. Then Gurathin joined us on the wrong end of a weapon.
This was my real life.
“Found this augment plugged into our system,” the human said, shaking his weapon at Gurathin in indication. Gurathin kept his head lowered, but raised his gaze to flick between me and Mensah.
Is the beacon going to launch? I sent over a private feed to Gurathin.
If I needed to get not one but two of my clients to relative safety soon, I’d need a plan. I’d spotted a larger boulder six meters away. I could retrieve them and get us behind the boulder—
No.
I should’ve expected that answer.
Then Mensah spoke, addressing the GrayCris team leader. The woman sized Mensah up as she spoke. “I’ll give you all of our data if you release me and my team. This doesn’t have to end badly.”
Yes, it does.
The GrayCris leader smiled. “How diplomatic of you. But I think we’ll just take you with us and extract that data from your augment.” She jerked her head toward Mensah. “Get them aboard.”
I boarded with them because what else could I do. They didn’t restrain Mensah and led her to sit up with them. Still, they flanked her with obvious weapons. A not-so-subtle threat. Gurathin and I both ended up in the back with the other equipment.
As a GrayCris member restrained Gurathin, they looked over their shoulder to consider me. Good instinct to not turn your back on me. “You’re not going to kill him during our flight, right?”
Not for the first time, I was grateful to have my faceplate down. I’m sure my face did something strange at the question before I remembered these people thought I hated the PresAux team. I’d even “killed” one of their members.
“I see no reason to kill him before you extract your information,” I said, staring forward. “There would be no benefit to me.”
Gurathin scoffed. He was sitting on the metal flooring with his arms wrenched above his head to be secured together and to the wall. “That’s very reassuring.”
“Shut it,” I snapped, to appear in character of course.
The GrayCris member smirked, looking between the two of us, before pulling something out of their pocket. It felt odd to be the one spoken to when another human was present, but the GrayCris member lowered their voice, showing me what they’d just retrieved. “I think you’ll appreciate this.”
When I registered what it was, I very much did not appreciate it.
A gag. A sharp metal bit protruded from it. A very sharp metal bit. That would draw blood. Shit. Gurathin’s vitals spiked when he saw it.
“I, uh, actually enjoy listening to the stupid things these augmented humans say,” I said, my own panic making my voice shift in pitch. “It fuels my hatred of them.”
“I’ll do you a favor here,” the GrayCris member said, straightening the gag and lining it up over Gurathin’s face. “Open.”
He did not open his mouth. To his credit, he didn’t look to me for help which might’ve given something away.
Speaking with patience, the GrayCris member said, “Open your mouth, or I’ll break your jaw.”
Even directed at my least favorite human, I almost reacted to the direct threat of harm. If I’d seen the GrayCris member shift their hand into a fist, I would’ve put an end to this ruse and blown their head into a thousand mushy pieces.
Instead, Gurathin opened his mouth.
It hurt. I could tell from his sharp inhale and immediate clamping of his teeth down to try to limit its mobility in his mouth. The GrayCris asshole secured it around his head roughly. A thin streak of blood slipped down Gurathin’s chin.
The floor vibrated underneath my boots as the engine started.
“One more thing.” The GrayCris asshole jabbed Gurathin in the leg with an injector. Drugs. Probably a paralytic or sedative. Gurathin didn’t have time to panic before his whole body slumped to the side. His eyes stayed open though, if half-lidded.
“Enjoy the ride,” the GrayCris asshole said, pushing upright and making their way back to the door. “Because I hear our data extraction software hurts like a bitch.”
They left us alone. Well, relatively. Their SecUnits were in there too, but they stood in the far corner where they faced the wall. I miss the simple days of staring at walls instead of having to deal with all this shit.
I didn’t move at first. I prioritized getting into their ship’s system so I could see where they were and get a status update on Mensah as well as our course. It wasn’t hard for a rogue Secunit to hack in, but doing it undetected presented more of a challenge.
It took me two and a half minutes.
Course destination: GrayCris Habitat. ETA: four hours. That… was not as far as I expected them to be. With a whole planet to choose their Habitat site, they chose one so close to Deltfall?
Mensah was where I’d last seen her—sitting with the other passengers, her hands not restrained but clasped together on her lap, her sides flanked by larger members of the GrayCris crew. It was obvious they didn’t see her as a serious threat. I guess that tracked because I didn’t either until I saw what she was capable of.
“I trust no harm has come to my team member?” Mensah said, directing her attention solely to the leader. “Why isn’t he up here with us?”
The leader glanced at Mensah. “Augments present certain risks normal people don’t. I’m not comfortable having him up here with us.” She flashed a smile. “And we’re not savages, Dr. Mensah. We don’t inflect pain for pain’s sake.”
I’d have to disagree with that last statement because I was looking at Gurathin right then. Crumpled on the floor, shoved in a corner and tied to the wall, the equivalent of a blade in his mouth, and drugged with something I’d been trying to identify.
Just then, a private message over the feed.
What did they give me? I can’t tell.
Unsure. Can you move your body at all?
His hands twitched in their restrains; his legs stretched out slightly; his eyes rolled over to look at me.
Somewhat. It’s…difficult. Requires focus.
Likely a sedative intended to slow your cognition and body to prevent an escape attempt. Effects are likely short-term. Our destination is the GrayCris habitat. We will arrive in three hours, forty-seven minutes.
Before he could even ask after her, I sent him a snippet of footage from where Mensah sat. As safe as she could be in such a position. He acknowledged the footage but didn’t comment.
Do you have a plan?
I had nothing. I responded, I always have a plan.
Had it just been me and Mensah, I wouldn’t have let us get aboard their ship. I would’ve risked an escape attempt. But two humans to protect? Two humans who were meters away from each other with only one of me? Mathematically, an escape attempt ended in at least one of them dead.
That same math still applied. With both of us in the cargo hold, I could safely get myself and Gurathin out of here, but there was no way of getting Mensah out too. And I wouldn’t leave her behind. Especially after she came back for me.
I gave myself an hour to brainstorm a plan. Gurathin didn’t reach out again.