Page 73 of Ava Greasemonkey

Ava involuntarily thought of Vox saying something similar to her so many cycles ago.

“Hmm . . .”Wyrl said, inspecting those thoughts. Ava looked to Orla, seeing her eyes narrow.

Ava changed her mindset, picturing the weapons she’d brought in her head instead. She wasn’t ready to address what her and Vox were with the others yet. That would be best done when he was present in person. She shifted in the vent, checking her silent com once again.Come quickly.Hurry, Vox.

Chapter 27

The five Tuxa husks swarmed off the Phor ship once they landed. Vox and the other three Vorbax sat in wait, watching, as their husks invited the guards present onto the ship.

They followed the husks into the hull willingly. There, Vox made quick work of breaking their minds. It was exhausting, accessing this part of himself. It went against his nature, damaging his mind with every husk they took. He would need an extended time to recover after this mission or risk madness.

Vox was vulnerable while breaking the minds, easy prey when he was this focused. It was the drawback to breaking. Rhutg stood watching over him and Erox as they broke as many Tuxa as they could, ready to attack in case they were swarmed. One of the Tuxa was sent out to gather more guards, leading them onto the protected ship until a unit of around forty stood at attention.

They stood now, all breathing rhythmically. A silent, now loyal, broken guard.

It has to be enough.Sitting back on his heels, Vox breathed heavily, twin hearts pumping. This was more than he had ever taken management of at one time. His head was heavy with the pressure. It buzzed from the minds he had to slash through. He shook his head to clear his senses, not allowing the voices to stick around. Madness lay that way if he did not organize and get a handle on the husks he was currently leading. He breathed heavily and sorted their threads in his mind until he was able to contain them. Erox took a few seconds longer before nodding affirmatively he was ready.

Vox couldn’t rest. Not yet. They positioned the Tuxa around themselves, spread out, in a way to look like the Tuxa were taking the Vorbax off the ship, still imprisoned.

The false guard walked surely as they exited the ship. Vox smelled the stinking air of Torga for the first time as he matched his steps with Erox. Lirell and Rhutg remained hidden within the hull. This landing bay was sparse compared to the other docking stations on Torga. They’d made the husks request this area to land to keep the Tuxa numbers down, citing maneuverability problems. Another aspect that paid off, as the station was almost completely subdued already.

The guards whose minds they broke spread out, silently disabling any alarms. They did this while sending back their brethren to Rhutg, who was standing in the cargo bay ready to break them.

The husks that were walking with Erox and Vox, pretending the Vorbax were still prisoners, feigned conversation to maintain the illusion for the Tuxa not yet turned. Soon, the entire area was filled with Tuxa whose minds they controlled. The few that recognized the ruse and attempted to flee met walls already sealed by their turned brethren. They were quickly rounded up to join their silent, ever-growing army.

It would be apparent soon there was an attack, but with the alarms silenced in this area it would take a bit for word to spread.

Vox scanned the memories of the Tuxa he had already broken, his eyes closed as he searched until he found one that was monitoring the feeds here in this station and held the relevant information.

This one indicated that they were aware of the sabotage done in the vents from Ava’s handiwork and were directing teams there to begin repairs. Another team was also inspecting the area the Haroo transport had self-destructed in. The path Vox would take would hopefully be less populated now with those distractions.

Ava. His hearts panged harder. The distractions provided would help, but the thought of her being hunted made him want to move faster. He fidgeted with the tracker he had slung over his arm, rechecking the direction it led.

“Lirell, stand at this corridor. Seal the door until our return and act as a guard,” Rhutg ordered, finally marching out of the hull.

Lirell nodded, pale. It was the first time in his life seeing any battle on such a big scale. He took seeing death hard; it was painted on his pinched face. It was part of the reason he wasn’t able to turn the minds himself. It required a certain amount of detachment Lirell had not yet mastered.

Vox nodded to Rhutg and Erox and continued forward. They left several of the Tuxa as a guard flanking Lirell, taking the others with them to act as their shield as they broke through the city. The Tuxa took up their positions as their silent, borrowed army. He hid himself in the middle of the crowd of Tuxa, Erox and Rhutg at his side, using the husk’s bodies to shield them.

With one last look back at Lirell, they moved into a steady sprint, the doors to the docking station closing and locking behind them.

Rhutg turned and checked the locks, ensuring they were sealed and unable to be opened by the pinpad next to the door easily. A few more husks were left at this entrance and given instructions to deter entry.

Rhutg nodded to Vox once done. They needed to move fast. This was the crunch point. Adrenaline was pumping through all their veins, their minds clear and on task. Vox typed into his com, alerting Ava they were here. He didn’t linger to see if it was delivered. The communications had been spotty, and the lack of contact added to his agitation.

It was exceedingly difficult to break minds while on the move. They would have to gather what they could as they went if there was a slow moment. But for now, their guard was strong. They were strong.

Despite the clarity from the adrenaline, his mind felt sluggish from carrying so many Tuxa in his head. Already the touches of fatigue were beginning to weigh on him, giving him a headache. But they needed to run. The quicker, the better. Before they could be swarmed. He had to get to Ava.

Working slowly, Ava crawled down one of the vents that branched down to the ground level in the room. She cut a small hole in the vent low to the ground where the women sat, backs lifted off the wall as she worked. It was a tight fit and there was no grate here to look out of to see what was happening on the other side of the wall.

Orla came up and put her hands behind her, slipping the weapon underneath the tunic she wore before putting it in the nest. Sai stayed there, covering the hole with her back.

They paced themselves, taking their time in case anyone was watching. They took turns going over to where Ava sat and taking a phaser from her before depositing it in the nest of bedding. Soon, five of the phasers Ava had were stored there, leaving one in her hands up in the vent. Ava scrambled back up to the outlet above their heads, on the horizontal part, to stretch out to look over them and wait.

The females and Ava took turns teasing into each other’s minds. It started out as a murmur, as if she was being tickled by a feather. Each attempt at conversation directed at her furthered their abilities to hear one another, until Ava could hear them consistently. It was now a tap on her mind instead of a flutter. It improved to the point she could hear what they said amongst each other and not just what was directed at her as long as they attempted to keep communication open to her.

A night cycle on this planet was apparently falling. The nature feed on the wall indicated this, dimming the lighting to dusk. The room became hard to see into.

---