As Corra stepped up to the front door of Eriaas Argoatan’s mansion and pushed the COMM button, she was struck with an old familiar thought: she never should have listened to Finn. She shouldn’t have boarded the Beacon. She shouldn’t have allowed him to talk her into ‘just saying hello.’ And yet, simultaneously, this was exactly the reason she was glad that she had.

Up until now, Corra had done just fine assuming that her friends and loved ones were capable of taking care of themselves. She had to, else she’d be sick with worry every minute of every day. The crews of the Dionysian and the Beacon had terrible tendencies to get themselves into constant trouble, but she always reminded herself that they also had the tenacity to get themselves out of it.

But now that she knew about Cyrus and Addy trapped on some Society-occupied moon, she couldn’t stop herself from getting involved. Continue reading →

The Dionysian had only just touched ground when Fiearius and Dez called in, saying they were headed back. Leta released her hands from the ship controls, breathing hard, but she was fairly certain she had managed to park the ship — Fiearius’ ship — in roughly the same spot she’d taken off from. But she had still muttered, “Think he’ll notice if we’re a few feet off?” to Javier as she headed for the cargo bay.

Before she could make it downstairs, a chorus of cheers and applause had erupted, making her nearly jump out of her skin.

“Mighty fine flyin’ back there, cap’n,” Eve called, grinning as she passed. Continue reading →

“What’re we going to do?” Javier breathed, hands flying madly over the dashboard controls. The radar screen at his side was flashing: the rogue fighters were on them. “We could — we could try to flee — “

“In this old boat?” Eve grunted. “Not a chance. I say we let ’em board.”

“Let them board?” Javier yelped. “Are you crazy?”

Another screen began to flash, this time with an incoming message.

“They’re trying to hail us,” said Javier, glancing nervously at Leta. Eve was looking at her too. It was clear, now, that Leta really was acting captain while Fiearius was aground: they were waiting on her orders. Continue reading →

Worry settled in Leta’s stomach like a rock as she crested the stairs toward the Dionysian’s bridge. She knew she’d find Fiearius inside. When she heard his voice, she hung back in the doorway to listen.

“No. No way,” Fiearius was saying, his voice ice cold. “I’m turning the ship around and coming back.”

“You sure as hell aren’t,” Cyrus’ voice answered, breaking through the crackling COMM speaker. Even through the COMM device, Leta thought he sounded, somehow, very far away — unreachable. Her stomach turned over again. “What’s gonna happen if you land the Dionysian here?” he went on. “There are Society agents all over the place.” Continue reading →

The dinner hadn’t gone horribly. At least from an investment perspective.

But Addy was not at all sorry to see the evening come to a close. After their host Eriaas had insisted on wine, then dessert, then more wine to cap off the night, she and Cyrus had managed to escape. Eriaas — or more likely, Eriaas’ staff — had arranged for them to sleep in the guest rooms upstairs. Kalli had dozed off in Cyrus’ arms, and Addy knew this was the only reason why they managed to hold off shouting at one another.

As soon as they put Kalli to bed and retreated into the hallway, however, all bets were off. Right as Addy pulled the door closed, she turned to Cyrus.

“Cyrus, I can’t believe — ” but he cut her off, his voice a harsh whisper.

“Did you have to act like that in front of our daughter?” Continue reading →

“Where the hell is it?!”

Crack.

The man’s fist plowed across Corra’s face, but she didn’t feel much pain. The sharpness had numbed out into a dull throb about ten minutes ago. She coughed as a trickle of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth down her chin and looked up at her captor from the chair she’d been tied to.

“Fuck you,” she spat coldly.

The next punch didn’t come as a surprise. Continue reading →

Alyx paused in the doorway of the Beacon’s bridge, hooking her hand on the doorframe and hanging back. Finn was seated in the captain’s chair, his eyes locked on the console before him which was emitting quiet voices. A news feed, it sounded like. She watched the back of his head for a moment, knowing she just needed to step forward and get this over and done with, but the awkwardness of the ensuing conversation made her want to turn back around and forget the whole thing. The two of them had barely spoken since the incident at the ship demonstration. Why start now?

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Finn spared her the responsibility of taking the leap. He glanced over his shoulder at her and grunted, “Need something?”

Yes, Alyx wanted to growl. Yes, the Beacon needed her captain back, needed money, resources, a plan, anything. Yes, she needed a lot. Continue reading →

Once she’d made it safely inside the Dionysian, Leta barely noticed where her feet were leading her. One second, she’d been watching her clinic crumble and burn to the ground, all flames and smoke. The next, she was downstairs in her old infirmary, clumsily splashing cold water across her face in the sink. A dull ache was spreading across her nose and mouth, and blood came away on her fingertips.

When she turned around, she realized she was not alone — Fiearius kept his eyes on her as he hung in the doorway, then veered toward the counter, snagging a rag and an icepack from the freezer.

“What’re you doing?” Leta asked blankly; she’d never seen Fiearius navigate this room before. He arched an eyebrow at her.

“I know how to treat a punch to the face. It’s happened to me enough.” And he stepped closer, bringing his hand to carefully swipe a towel across her wet mouth, his touch surprisingly tender. The towel came away stained red. Continue reading →