Chapter Thirteen: Heart’s Home
It had been a rough three days for Az, Alaran, and Temos. They were optimistic, worried, and angry by turns, and the closer they got to the Cluster, the worse it got.
You had to fly directly into the Cistvale Cluster, so they couldn't hyper jump there. Ships had to pass an inspection before being allowed in, to make sure there was no law enforcement trying to get in and break things up.
It was a horrible practice, but Temos didn't care about the other slaves and what was happening there. He just wanted Nat back. He wanted her in his arms, safe. And then he was never letting her out of his sight again.
The others had expressed similar sentiments, and between the three of them, whoever had her was going to regret ever having laid a finger on her.
"We're getting close," Az said as he flew them nearer.
"Any sign of her comm trace?" Alaran wanted to know.
Az shook his head. "No. It's gone. There hasn't been a ping from it in a while."
No one wanted to think about what that meant.
"We will get her back," Alaran said.
One of them said it every hour it seemed, trying to convince themselves and each other.
What worried Temos was thinking about what condition she would be in when they found her. He knew that slavers liked to make sure their charges were docile before they got to work.
The slaves outnumbered the slavers ten to one sometimes, and having a revolt would be disastrous. There were all sorts of ways to keep people from fighting back, and thinking of any of them being used on Natasha made him want to break something.
“Save it for the ones who took her,” Alaran said, as if he knew what Temos had been thinking. He probably did.
“We are close,” Az said, and his hands were balled into tight fists.
“Take us in.”
The Cistvale Cluster felt like it bred depression, in a way. It was highly industrial, with machines and ships everywhere, but no one looked happy.
There was an air of despair about the place, and it was no wonder. In the time since they had landed, they'd seen no fewer than ten people of different races, heading with single minded determination back to their tasks. There were no smiles on their faces, and they didn't talk to each other, even when they were moving in groups.
Most likely that wasn't allowed, and the consequences for doing so had been made clear to them.
You only had to demonstrate on one person enough that everyone else got the picture in order to ensure that your orders would be followed.
Just being here made Az sick to his stomach.
This was the sort of thing that he hated, seeing people broken down with no hope. It was the reason that he'd taken up weapons in the first place, wanting to right wrongs as they traveled through the galaxy. And this was a very big wrong.
One that was ignored and allowed to thrive since it hardly ever affected enough people at once to be considered worth dealing with.
Not to mention that the minerals that the slaves here mined were then turned around and sold to the nearby planets at a discount. A sort of 'thanks for looking the other way' deal.
"This is disgusting," he murmured.
"I know," Alaran replied, looking like he was just as bothered by it all. "But we are here for a reason."
To find Natasha. Right then, that was all that mattered. They had to get her out of here before she lost everything about her that made her who they loved. Or worse, before she was killed or hurt.
Taking out the rest of this massive embarrassment to the universe would have to wait.
They had landed on the main planet, the biggest one in the center that had the most buildings and 'official' looking people milling around.
Slaves glanced at them and then hurried away, and it was hard to know if that was because of their training or because it was clear that the tree of them were on the warpath.
They were armed, they were angry, and they were walking with purpose towards the main building.
It was dome shaped, and there was a Jamoreen standing right outside of it. That was enough for Temos, clearly, as he strode right up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground.
The Jamoreen were a money hungry race who would steal from and cheat their own families if it meant getting ahead in the world. They had sharp faces and beady eyes, and when Temos grabbed that one, he squeaked in what sounded like fear.
"Who are you?" the Jamoreen demanded. "What do you want?"
"You have taken someone who belongs to us," Temos growled. "And we will have her back."
In his anger, his draconic features were more pronounced. The scales stood out on his skin, and his eyes had gone reptilian. The deep, resonating sound of the dragon's roar was in his voice, and if that didn't get results, then Az would be surprised.
Predictably, all the color drained from the Jamoreen's skin. "We...we take a lot of people. You'll have to be more specific than that."
"The fact that you say it with pride is disgusting," Az said, face impassive. "This whole operation is a stain on this universe, and I will see it shut down if it's the last thing that I do."
The Jamoreen didn't even look at him, which was fair, considering he had a barely contained Temos to contend with. But he answered Az's words. "We are too well ingrained into society now," he said. "We can't be stopped."
Temos was losing what little patience he had, though. "Human woman," he growled. "You took her and headed here. Where. Is. She?"
Something flickered in the little Void rat's eyes, but he tried to play it off. "We never took a human woman. You have to be mistaken."
Az and Alaran didn't even have to say anything as Temos took the Jamoreen and slammed him into the side of the building hard enough that the creature squeaked in pain. "Where is she?" he asked again "You will tell me, or I will kill you and go ask someone else."
It was a lucky thing that Jamoreen seemed to value their own lives as well because that was enough to get this one talking.
"Wait!" he cried. "Wait, wait, wait! We did take a human woman. In the swamp. We took her from a ship."
"From our ship," Alaran said, stepping closer. "Do you know what we do to vermin like you that trespass on our property and take those that we care for?"
"You kill them?" the Jamoreen guessed, managing to sound both afraid and unimpressed at the same time.
Alaran laughed, and it was a chilling sound even to Az's ears. "Oh no. But we make them wish they were dead."
If it were possible, the Jamoreen went even paler. "L-listen," he said. "I wasn't there. I didn't do the trespassing, I swear. I swear to everything. I just keep the records. The fifth squad called in and said they had a human woman and they were bringing her in, but when they showed up, they didn't have anything and they wouldn't say what happened."
That was clearly not what Temos wanted to hear because he slammed the Jamoreen back into the side of the building. "Where are they?" he demanded.
"Where are who?"
"The fifth squad! I want to talk to them. If they wouldn't say what happened, I'll get it out of them."
"Well, you've done it now," Az said. "He's angry. He's so hard to deal with when he's angry."
"Azaniston, now is not the time," Temos growled. "You should be angry as well."
"Oh, I am," Az replied. "Where is the fifth squad?"
"P-probably at the break house. They just got in a few hours ago. P-please let me go."
"Temos," Az said, voice pleasant. "Let the good man go."
"What? After what he's done?"
"Temos. He told us what we wanted to know."
Temos huffed and put the Jamoreen down on his feet. "You're lucky you didn't take her," he grumbled.
"In a sense." And Az pulled out his blaster and shot the Jamoreen in the chest.
It burned a hole clean through him and he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Az stepped over his body and picked up the comm device that had been hanging from his belt. In a matter of seconds he had hacked into it and was going through the lists of prisoners that had come in in the last couple of days.
"Well, he was not lying," he said. "There are no records of a human woman coming in. And right here there's a note about the fifth squad losing their cargo."
“Let us go find this fifth squad, then,” Alaran suggested.
Predictably, no one wanted to help them, and they had to kill a couple more of the guards and people in charge before they got the information they were looking for. Which was that squad five had been sent right back out to get more captives because they had a quota to meet and they did not deserve a break after letting prisoners escape.
Somehow, that was worse than finding out she was here and hurt or seeing her sloughing off to the mines like the rest of the prisoners here. At least then they would have known where she was and they would have had the chance to break any conditioning they had put on her. Now, they had no idea where she was, and that was frightening. She could be lost out there by herself. She could be dead for all they knew.
It was a long, quiet walk back to the ship.
They'd been so sure that she would be here, and the fact that she wasn't was hitting them all hard. The fact that they had killed so many people with no results was not easy to sit with either.
Temos disappeared into the training room and they could hear him taking his frustrations out on the training dummies.
"What do we do now?" Alaran asked, and for the first time in a long time Az was lost. He didn't have an answer, and he had no ideas.
Without her comm trace to follow, they had no way of tracking her, and since they had no idea where the fifth squad had gone off to, they couldn't hunt them down to ask what had happened.
For the first time since they had discovered she was missing, Az was worried that they might never see her again.
What followed was probably the hardest few days in recent memory. Usually, they knew where they were heading, or at least they had some idea of what they wanted to see or which direction they wanted to go, but now they were just floating in space. They stopped at every planet and moon they came upon after leaving the Cluster, but there was no sign of Natasha anywhere.
Their kind didn't handle grief with grace. Temos wanted to spar every second of every day, just to have something else to focus on, but Alaran was too withdrawn, and Az was busy trying to think of something, anything that would help them.
Not one of them wanted to suggest that they give up. It was too early to give up.
"We could try Nalin," Az said during one of the rare times that they were all in the command console.
"The planet of lost things?" Temos asked. "You think she would have found her way there?"
"Not on her own, but if someone picked her up, perhaps. We don't have any other ideas." By which he meant that he didn't have any other ideas.
Before Temos could reply, the screen in front of them began to trill a notification.
"We're being hailed," Alaran said, frowning at the windshield of the ship as it turned into a screen.
"By someone we know?"
He shook his head. "I don't recognize the frequency at all."
"May as well answer it at this point. If they have demands or want to negotiate, we should hear them out."
"Or listen to them as long as it takes to get their heading and then go destroy them," Temos put in, voice low and dangerous.
“You think it is related to Natasha?”
“It has to be. We’ve made it known everywhere between the Cluster and here that we are looking for a human woman. Why else hail us?”
Alaran just sighed and answered the call. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.
On the screen was a Monivan, if he wasn't mistaken. She looked tired, but when their image resolved, she smiled. "We finally found you," she said. "There is someone here who has been refusing to let us give up." She stepped back, and there, on the screen, was Natasha.
Alaran's eyes widened. "Nat! You're alright! Thank everything."
She grinned brightly at them and waved. "I'm totally fine. Hi. Have you destroyed half the galaxy yet?"
"Not quite," Az said, and he didn’t know that he had ever felt so relieved. "Where are you?"
She looked over her shoulder to someone behind her. "Where are we again?"
"Cimmous system," a melodious voice replied. "On one of the refueling moons."
"We aren't far at all from there," Alaran said. "We can come get you."
"What happened?" Temos demanded. "Where have you been? We went to Cistvale and you weren't there, and we thought..." He shook his head, not wanting to say what all they had thought because he didn't want to relive it. "I'm so relieved you are alright."
Natasha smiled gently at him, at all of them. "I'm fine," she said again. "We never made it to the Cluster. We escaped before then."
"You..." Az gaped. "You escaped? From slavers? How did you manage that?"
Something flickered in Nat's eyes, and it was visible even over the comm channel. Something had happened that she was not happy about. "I'll tell you the story when I see you," she said. "How long do you think it will take?"
Az slid into the pilot's seat and brought up the controls. "We'll be there before you know it," he said. "Just hold tight."
Seeing Nat, knowing she was alright, it did wonders for them. The atmosphere on the ship still wasn't the same as it was when she was there, but the tension and worry and dread had lifted. Now they had a mission again, and all three of them jumped into action.
Az flew the ship, and Temos and Alaran ran around like conglors trying to get the ship back into shape to receive their favorite companion.
To say they had let it go in the time that she had been gone was an understatement. There were things everywhere: clothes and weapons and garbage that they hadn't bothered to clean up because their minds had been set on finding Natasha. Now that they knew where she was and that she was safe, there was no excuse for such a mess, and they didn't want her to see it.
No use letting her know that they had fallen apart without her.
They, or at least Temos, already felt bad enough about not being able to rescue her. And not being there to keep her from getting taken in the first place.
"Do you think..." Temos began as he and Alaran were setting the mess hall to rights.
"Sometimes, yes. Would you like me to think about something specific?" Alaran asked with trademark sarcasm, though Temos knew it was just covering up for how he really felt.
"Do you think she will be able to forgive us?"
Whatever Alaran had been expecting him to say, it was clearly not that. He dropped the cleaning wand he was holding and stared for a moment before looking down at the counter. "I hope she will. We promised her that we would keep her safe, and we failed."
"We failed, and she clearly had to do something hard to get herself out of trouble. It should never have come to that."
"You noticed that, too?"
Temos nodded.
"Do you think that they hurt her?"
"If they did, we will go back there and kill more of them."
"I believe they got the message the first time, Temos," Alaran pointed out. "And it will not change the fact. We should focus on making things right for Natasha. Making her feel safe with us once more."
As warriors, their word was their bond. They had each sworn to Natasha that they would do everything in their power to make sure that no harm came to her. It went along with her being their mate, and with her being in their protection.
The three of them had failed her, plain and simple, and it was a failure that Temos knew would live with them for the rest of their lives. Especially if Natasha had been hurt in her escape.
But there was no use dwelling on it now.
None of them would be able to relax fully until she was back where she belonged.
They weren't sure what they were expecting to see when they disembarked and made their way over to the appointed meeting place.
It certainly wasn't Natasha sitting at a table with two Monivans and what appeared to be a Dahler Elf, talking and laughing and sipping something bright and fruity looking.
"Holy spirits," one of the Monivans said as he caught sight of the three of them. "Actual Dammen Ka."
"I told you I saw them," the other one said. "I spoke to them."
"And I told you before that," Natasha said. She got up from her chair and started walking towards them, but after a few seconds, she was running and so were they.
She slammed into them hard, hitting Az first, who lifted her up into his arms and held her tightly for a good long moment. Then he was kissing all over her face.
When he put her down, it was so Alaran could scoop her up and do the same, holding her close and whispering into her hair.
And then she was standing in front of Temos who was at a loss.
They had failed her, but she was alright. Somehow those two things didn't seem like they should have reconciled, but in the end, did it matter?
He grabbed her and kissed her breathless right then and there, realizing with a visceral jolt how much he had missed having her in his arms.
"You are safe," he murmured, not sure whether he was stating a fact or reassuring himself. "You are safe. Thank everything."
"I'm safe," Natasha agreed. She leaned back to look at his face and then kissed the tip of his nose. "Put me down; I want you meet my new friends."
And so the three of them pulled up chairs to the table, putting Natasha in the middle of them as best they could.
"This is Loro, Nahira, and Soro Vel," Natasha said. "We all escaped together. You guys, this is Alaran, Azaniston, and Temos."
"A bit more than friends, I'd say," Soro Vel said, giving her a sly grin.
Natasha blushed. "I didn't say what kind of friends."
"She is our mate," Temos said, putting force behind his words, just in case the elf had any ideas.
"Yes," Soro Vel said, sounding dry and unimpressed. "I had gathered." His tone said that they had nothing to worry about.
"How did you escape?" Az wanted to know. "No one escapes the Cluster, and you said you never made it there?"
"No, we stole a shuttle and escaped before they could take us there. And before they could break us or whatever."
That was a relief at the very least.
Natasha and her friends took turns telling the story of how they had escaped. Nahira emphasized how Natasha had gotten them all free and made them believe that it was possible to fight back.
"She kept telling us that you three were going to find her and that you would help us. It was inspiring, her faith in you."
"And then, of course, she killed a Lormanax," Soro Vel said.
All three of the Dammen Ka looked at each other and then looked at Natasha.
"She did what?" Alaran asked.
Soro Vel smiled. "She killed a Lormanax. A fully grown, outfitted warrior of their tribe, too, I would say. He had already rendered me weaponless and was trying to kill Loro here."
Natasha flushed and looked at the table. "It's not that big a deal. If Nahira hadn't blasted him, I never would have been able to get on his back. It was a team effort."
"But you killed him?" Temos repeated. "How?"
"With this," she said, holding up the sheathed blade that they had gotten for her. "I had some good teachers."
Her smiles for them were tentative and edged with pain, and Temos knew that her first kill hadn't been a happy one. So that was what he'd seen in her eyes.
Az leaned back in his seat. "Incredible. That explains why they were so upset when we got to the Cluster. Four prisoners managed to escape and take down one of their best. I have never been more proud of you, Natasha."
That at least seemed to chase some of the hurt from her eyes.
“Thank you,” Alaran said to the other three. “For your help in getting our mate out of there. We were...frantic, when we saw she had been taken.”
Loro waved the thanks away. “We all helped each other. If not for Natasha, we would all be at the Cluster now with nothing to live for and no reason to try to fight back. She’s a wonder.”
“We know,” Temos said softly.
Natasha blushed under their praise.
The shuttle they had taken had enough fuel now to get Nahira, Loro, and Soro Vel back to Moniva, and Soro Vel planned to borrow a ship from there to get back to his own people.
They all seemed sorry to see Natasha go.
She hugged each of them in turn and made them promise to keep in touch. “I don’t have any friends out here in space, except for those three, of course, so don’t forget about me.”
“Natasha, believe me when I say that we could never,” Nahira said and hugged her once more.
They watched as the shuttle took off, Natasha standing with them, head craned back to watch it until it disappeared.
And then it was just the four of them. Somehow, with the other three gone, Temos felt like he didn’t know what to say. There was so much on his mind. He wanted to ask Natasha for a blow by blow of her fight with the Lormanax, he wanted to kiss her until she couldn’t breathe, he wanted…
Temos went down on one knee in front of Natasha and took her hand.
“Temos,” she said, looking startled. “What are you doing?”
“Forgive us,” he said. “Forgive me. I...it was—it is our duty to keep you safe, and we failed in that. We didn’t protect you, and you could have been…” It was still hard to complete that thought.
Alaran and Az went down on either side of him, heads bowed. “Forgive us,” they said.
“We would understand if you did not want us anymore,” Alaran murmured. “What good are we to you as your mates if we cannot even manage to keep you from being taken from our own ship? We would understand if you thought it was unforgivable.”
“We would understand,” Az said. “But we would hurt, and that would be ours to carry.”
They waited, for what seemed like ages, for her to say something. When Temos chanced a glance up, she was staring down at them, speechless.
After a moment, she shook herself. "Of course I still want you," she said. "Dummies. It wasn't your fault I got taken. If anything it was my own fault for being stupid and opening the door. I didn't think. It was horrible being separated from you, not knowing where you were or if you would come."
"We would have come," Az said with feeling. "No matter where you were."
"I told myself that," Natasha said. "It was what gave me the strength to keep going, to get the others going. When the Lormanax guy was talking about how he was going to break us, I just kept telling myself that you would find me, and I thought about the things you all had taught me, and I managed to kill him. Even though you didn't rescue me yourselves, knowing you were out there and having the gifts you've given me, that helped a lot. So there is really nothing to forgive."
She seemed so entirely sincere, and it was hard to believe at first. For something like this, she would have been well within her rights to demand that they never speak to her again and take her back home. But she was crediting them for her escape and saying that it was all alright.
For the first time in the long days since Natasha had been taken, Temos felt truly relaxed. Everything was going to be alright.
"Please, get up," Natasha said. "For one thing it's weird being this close in height to you three, and for another, people are staring."
And indeed, most of the people who were milling about in the launch bay of the moon were staring at the scene they were making.
Temos found he didn't care.
He stood up and he kissed the back of Natasha's hand.
Alaran took her other hand and kissed that one.
Az, grinning like a loon, leaned down and kissed her on the mouth.
"Well," he said. "Since that's all settled, shall we go?"
"Yes please," Natasha said. "I've missed Bertha so much."
"Oh sure, you've missed the ship. What about the three of us?"
Natasha grinned and started leading the way to the ship. "Let's just say it's a good thing there are three of you and you can take turns flying the ship and all while I show you how much I missed you."
And that was perhaps the second best thing Temos had heard all day.