Lily

We have to wait a moment for Marcas’s erection to go down before we can move out. It’s rather, uhm, distracting.

If we had more time, I might just give him another ‘release’…

What am I thinking? We’re about to embark on a dangerous mission, and here I am, thinking about sex again.

My lips are still tingling. That kiss was… special. Fireworks, the whole shebang. Now I have another reason to save the world: It means I will have plenty of time to explore Marcas’s tongue some more.

“Ready?” I ask.

“Ready.”

I pull the sheet over his naked body and set off. My knees are shaking as I walk towards the elevator, pushing the table with the Zoran warrior on it. Just getting these freaking wheels to move is already harder than I imagined it to be — and this is the most simple part of our plan!

This does not bode well.

I scan the keycard. As I wait, I can hear my own heartbeat. What if it doesn’t work? What if we fail before we even start—

Ping.

The doors open. There I go, worrying about nothing again. This is going to be a long escape!

I press the button for the second floor. As the doors close I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself. When the doors open I push the table again with all my might, hoping I don’t look as guilty as I feel.

“Hold it right there,” a low voice calls out.

A heavyset man gets up from behind his desk and walks towards me. He barely fits into his dark-blue Onyx uniform.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Special delivery,” I say. “For Anik Onyx.”

His eyes immediately grow wide. “A-anik?” he stammers.

Ah, he knows. Good.

“Yes. Do you want to explain to him why you made him wait?”

He shakes his head. “N-no, that’s okay. You go on ahead.”

I nod, trying to look as badass as possible, even though I’m a complete mess. I’m filled with adrenalin and terror at the exact same time.

Now to find Anik’s ship… uhm… which one is it?

“If you could point his ship out to me, that would be lovely,” I yell at the guard.

“The massive one at the back of room,” he gestures. “Can’t miss it.”

Ah, no. That one. It’s shaped like a Y, the Onyx logo prominently displayed on its side.

“Need any help with that?” he continues.

“No thank you,” I say. “I’ve got this.”

The last thing I need is his help right now! I keep pushing the table and my ankles start to burn. Who knew pushing a seven foot tall Zoran warrior around could be so exhausting?

Thankfully the hangar is mostly deserted. So far so good. I was afraid there would be hundreds of guards here, or that Anik would have his own private militia or something, but everything seems quiet.

Perhaps… too quiet.

“Almost there,” I whisper softly.

We reach the ship, and the doors open straight away.

“Excellent.”

Anik is standing in the door frame, his intense eyes focused on me.

“You do not disappoint.”

A metal plate is lowered from the belly of the ship.

“Place him there,” Anik snaps.

I follow his command, pushing the heavy table with Marcas on it towards the correct spot. The plate raises itself, and the Zoran disappears into the darkness.

I hope that wasn’t a big mistake…

“Do you want to watch?” Anik says. “True art needs an audience.”

Normally, I would run away as fast as my feet could take me, but this is not a normal day. “Sure,” I say, my voice shaking.

My legs heavy, I step into Anik’s ship. It’s nearly pitch black inside.

“Follow me,” he whispers, his voice right behind me.

A cold shiver runs down my spine. Come on Marcas, spring into action!

We go down a set of stairs and arrive at what I can only describe as a butchers workshop. Knives decorate the walls, some rusty, some covered in dried blood, and the entire room smells like… death.

My heart is pumping like mad. This man isn’t just crazy. He’s clinically insane!

“Sit back and enjoy the show,” Anik says, pointing at the chair in the corner of the room.

Against my better judgment I sit down. I did my part — it’s up to Marcas to save me from this creep…

Anik returns a moment later with the table with Marcas on it. The Zoran is an excellent actor, for he still hasn’t moved a muscle. It’s starting to worry me. Did he fell asleep? That would be… not great. This gangly man with the black hair is about to cut both of us into tiny little pieces, Marcas. Wake the hell up!

The Onyx man turns his back towards the Zoran and looks up at his massive collection of knives and saws.

“Where to start, where to start,” he muses. “What do you think? Should we start small?”

“I don’t know,” I say, my voice now shaking uncontrollably. Why didn’t we set up a safe word, so I could tell Marcas to get the hell up? “What are you waiting for?” I ask. No response. “I think we should get started,” I say, stressing the last word.

There’s no way Marcas doesn’t understand that — but he’s still not moving a muscle.

“Yes yes, we should,” Anik says. Luckily he thinks I’m talking to him. “We’ve got to be patient, you know. Savor the moment.”

He grabs a small knife and whirls around, twirling it between his fingers as he grabs the sheet and pulls it away. My fingers grip the sides of my chair, my knuckles turning white, and I’m about to launch out of my chair and fling myself at Anik when Marcas finally springs into action.

His movement is so fast it’s a hot pink blur to me. He grabs Anik’s hand with his left hand, and punches him square in the chest with his right fist. The gangly man is flung back against the wall, and several knives clatter onto the floor.

“Wh-what,” he stammers, out of breath, the wind knocked out of him. “Betrayal!”

Marcas jumps off the table, his fists raised, every muscle in his naked body tensed up. Despite the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I take half a second to appreciate the beautiful sight.

Anik’s eyes narrow, and focus… on me.

“My sister,” he spits. “I should have known. That bitch!”

The dark haired man reaches behind him, grabs a knife and throws it right at me. I watch it fly in slow motion, and for a moment I think that this is it.

The end of the line.

Marcas lunges to the side in a split second and stretches his hand out towards me. He stops the knife with a dull thud — by letting it pierce his hand.

Red blood runs down his wrists and drops onto the floor. He… he just saved my life.

“Mistake,” Marcas growls. “Big mistake.”

He pulls the knife out and throws it back at the Onyx man. It hits him square in the chest, nailing him to the wall. Blood fills his mouth, and he utters some final curses at us before his head slumps to the side.

Anik is dead.

Marcas is at my side a moment later. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I-I’m fine,” I stammer. “Are you? You’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing,” he says as he grabs a piece of the sheet and ties it around the gaping wound.

“Let me take a look at that!” I demand.

“Later. We’ve got to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“R-right,” I say.

“Do you think you can fly this thing?”

I nod. I don’t know why, but I feel like I can. We leave the torture basement behind us — I make sure to lock the door extra well so Anik can’t get up and haunt us later — and take my place in the control room.

My hands move across the many buttons and dials like they’ve got a mind of their own, and in no time at all I’ve got the engines up and running. I request permission to leave from the control tower, and they give it to me without asking a single question.

“Where should we go?” I ask Marcas. “I should punch in a destination.”

“Set a course for the Vagreon sector. We can flip the ship there. As soon as they figure out Anik’s not responding, we’ll be a target.”

“Right.”

I set a destination and hit enter.

The ship engines kick in with a whirl, and the entire vessel vibrates. It lifts up, and we set off. In front of us several hangar bay doors open, and as soon as the night’s sky is visible — oh what a beautiful sight! — the warp engine uses its full force. We’re pushed back into our seat as we set course for the stars.

We did it. We freaking did it!