Page 71 of Stars in Halo

I’ve got you, Mirage said. I’ll keep pinging you and maintain this open link until you regenerate.

Sante.

Above him, the needle-like apparatus descended, and Xion braced for the inevitable agony.

Its proboscis sank into the flesh just over his bicep, and he almost bit through his tongue to stop from screaming, unwilling to give his captors the satisfaction.

Then came the sensation of his metanoids being sucked out of him.

It was the most excoriating pain he’d ever experienced.

Gritting his teeth to the point of bloodletting, he writhed in his bonds, his vision going black for a moment as his life force was drained from him.

‘Nada!’ he cried, finally giving in to the anguish, his voice echoing off the cold, sterile walls.

K’Sumi observed with a twisted smile on his face.

In moments, the Rider lost consciousness.

The last thing he parsed was the ominous silhouette of K’Sumi, a shadowy figure in the glass vestibule beyond looming over him, a smug glint in his eyes.

You Give Love a Bad Name

The magenta-lit streets of LeCythi were a slow crawl of hardened steel and high-resistant glass flyers.

Each was equipped with extra armoured protection from the rocks and lava that showered the surface daily.

For the first time in years, Katya was travelling in one such craft with all three of her brothers, heading back to House D’Hanna.

Their family home.

The atmosphere in the flyer was tense as fokk.

Katya raged, fuming at the audacity of her siblings.

She stared at their ineffectual faces.

‘How can you even live with yourselves?’ she spat at them.

The eldest brother, Korin, shot her a menacing glare before snarling at her. ‘You abandoned us, Katya. You left us to fend for ourselves while you ran off to your fancy high life on Enia. We had to endure without you and did what we had to survive.’

Katya scoffed, her eyes flashing with anger. ‘Survive? Is that what you call kidnapping innocent children and using them as leverage? You’re no better than the scum stuck on the heels.’

Kiros, the hacker of the group, chuckled darkly. ‘Oh, spare us your holier-than-thou attitude, sister. You were always the golden child who could do no wrong in Father’s eyes. Yet the most wily one of us. Well, guess what? We’ve moved on without you.’

‘Until you needed me so hard,’ she snapped back, dragging her eyes from the trio, unable to stand the sight of them.

K’Zito’s cold eyes fixed on Katya with an intensity that sent shivers down her spine.

His bristling energy spoke volumes, his readiness to unleash destruction evident in the tight grip on his weapon.

He was a wild card, given he’d held a firearm to her head with such casual disregard.

When had he become so sour and hateful?

Her loathing for her father at how he’d destroyed their family only grew with every passing mile.

As the flyer approached House D’Hanna, Katya’s heart raced. She was unwilling to confront her former life and the monster she had once called a parent.

---