“How the hell did this happen?”

Fiearius stalked back and forth through the cramped space of the Dionysian’s bridge, his breathing short, a hand caught in his hair. Every inch of him was shaking. Dez and Eve were in the doorway, watching him in shocked silence.

Quin answered him over the speakers. “It was a miscommunication,” she grunted. “We were awaiting them aboard our ship, but the Lagartha claimed they had them.” There was a pause. “They didn’t.” Continue reading →

When Cyrus awoke the following morning, it took him a several groggy, confusing seconds to remember why a glow of happiness was filling his chest. Then he remembered: Addy. Their date. Their kiss. His stomach did several happy somersaults as he sat up, got out of bed and pulled on clothes, grinning dazedly to himself.

His grin faded by the time he made it down the ladder into the command deck and realized he had something of an audience. He intended to go eat breakfast in the mess hall, but he slowed to a halt outside the bridge. Two pairs of eyes were on him.

His brother was leaning back in his captain’s chair, hands folded behind his neck, smirking at him. Leta stood next to him with her arms folded. When they just continued to stare like he was an animal in a zoo, he snapped, “What?” Continue reading →

For the first time in months, Corra had absolutely nowhere pressing to be. While the Beacon sailed soundlessly through the black of space, en route to the next port, she found herself finally relaxing — really relaxing. She lounged back in one of the comfortable couches on the crew deck, drinking beers and sharing stories with her crew.

Daelen sat at her side, gesturing with his hands as he explained — of all things — Vescent’s geographical makeup.

“See, the terraformers during colonization were all calibrated to arbitrary settings, I believe,” he said, his tone of fondness for his home planet apparent even in this topic. “Settings based on the Origin, but the planets being terraformed already had their own makeup so the process often produced different results.”

“So,” Corra said slowly, trying to wrap her mind around how this casual talk of home turned impromptu science lesson. “Vescent is covered in water because of terraformer settings?” Continue reading →

“Are you sure you’re okay to talk right now?” came Addy’s worried voice over the speaker. Cyrus sat back in his chair in the engine room and quickly brushed off her concern.

“No, no, don’t worry, it’s fine,” he said, glancing over at his secondary monitor where he could see the layout of the Society ship the Dionysian was docked to. “I’m watching, everything’s going according to plan.” A number of blue dots were moving through the halls while most of the red dots were trapped in a large bay halfway across the ship.

“If they need something from me, they’ll call,” he added, feeling confident that this raid — like all the others — would go smoothly. Continue reading →

At first, Leta didn’t know what awoke her in the darkness of the room. An incoming call? Noisy deckhands, drinking downstairs? But then she turned on her side and realized it was Fiearius — or rather, an absence of Fiearius. His side of the bed lay empty and cold, merely a mess of blankets, even though it was past three and they’d gone to bed together an hour before. Blinking her eyes rapidly, and feeling suddenly curious, she sat up and put her feet to the floor.

He wasn’t in the bridge. The hallways were silent as she wandered downstairs; she only heard Rhys mumbling drunkenly in his sleep from the crew deck. Finally, it was the distinct clatter of pots and pans that made her veer toward the doorway of the kitchen. Continue reading →

“So if twice was a coincidence, three times is … ?”

Finn unleashed a broad grin as he absently turned a strand of Corra’s hair around his fingers. She lay propped up on one elbow, eyeing him as he sprawled out clothed only in the sheets next to her. God, how had this happened again? The first time Finn had ended up in her bed, she’d been distraught, feeling pitiful and inadequate over her failures and he’d lifted her spirits. The second time, they’d both been emotionally exhausted and simply sought physical relief in one another.

And this time … well, there wasn’t much of a reason this time, other than he was available, attractive and lived right across the hallway. When he’d knocked on her door after dinner, it was to ask her a question about their next meeting with Callahan. And then they’d had a beer or two. Then somehow they’d ended up here. In bed. Again. Continue reading →

The glow of the console screen pierced the dark room. The Satierian Councilor sat before it, hands folded calmly, but his eyes were blazing with alarm.

It was late in Paradiex when the ringing sound from his console had roused him from his deep sleep. It was a sound he did not hear often anymore — a persistent chime that had dug him from his dreams and forced him from his bed and to the console in the other room. Middle of the night or not, if fellow Councillors saw reason to call, you answered. Continue reading →

“This isn’t right,” said Leta sharply, brushing sweaty hair from her forehead with her wrist. Her legs ached as she trekked up a sloped dirt path. Fiearius was ahead, pushing heavy branches out of their way as they headed deeper into the jungle. The trees were so thick that it was actually dim beneath the canopy of leaves, but it was also oppressively humid. Leta’s sticky clothes clung to her, and her throat was dry when she called, “Fiear, we’re going the wrong way again. We’re supposed to — “

“Take the lower path, avoid the long-range cameras,” Fiearius snapped. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

Fiearius had never been near this jungle, but that did not prevent him from acting like he had mapped it all out himself — even when Leta was certain they were headed straight toward danger, straight to where a group of Society guards were stationed. They had hiked six hours the day before and stayed the night in a small tent, taking shifts on staying awake to keep watch — although Leta had only been asleep an hour before Fiearius became bored and woke her up, too. The following morning, they’d started hiking again bright and early. Leta had never spent so much time outdoors in her life. Continue reading →

” … And then, out of nowhere, all of Quin’s people showed up and scared away the gang. Can you believe that?” Addy was saying. “Everyone was swarming the ship!”

Cyrus let out a laugh of disbelief. Even through the console speaker in the wall, he could hear the excitement in Addy’s voice and it made him grin to himself as he lay on his back in bed, arms folded under his head. They’d been on the call for nearly an hour as she recalled the latest chain of events on the Beacon. Continue reading →

The air knocked cleanly from Finn’s lungs as his chest collided with the cold metal floor of the basement. Groaning, he tried to lift his aching head — he had to get back on his feet, he had to get back on his feet right now — but as soon as he pushed his palms to the floor to jump up like a prizefighter, weight pushed him back down.

One of Mica’s henchmen crushed his foot into his wrist. Another stepped on the small of his back and another (or was it the same one? Were they all on him now? He couldn’t tell.), reached and gripped the back of his hair, pushing his head down into the ground.

Laughing, the man lifted Finn’s head, as if to help him up, and then shoved it down again sharply with a thud of metal.

He tasted blood in his mouth. Rusty and bitter. Continue reading →