Page 13 of Marked By the Bounty Hunter

We waited until the footsteps faded before moving. But as I started to pull away, Tyrix’s grip on my hip tightened.

“Wait.” His voice was rough. “There’s something...”

A muffled cry echoed from deeper in the section, followed by the sound of equipment crashing.

Our eyes met in the darkness. Whatever was happening here, we were running out of time.

“This way,” I breathed, reluctantly stepping from his embrace. The loss of his warmth left me shivering.

We moved deeper into the hydroponics section, following the sound. The growing racks here had been cleared away, replaced by something that looked disturbingly like medical equipment.

And there, crumpled beneath a broken pipe, I recognized her - Xara, a Fanaith engineer who sometimes stopped by the bar after late shifts. Her usually glossy, translucent skin had gone dull, and strange purple bioluminescent patches pulsed erratically across it - nothing like the natural blue-silver shimmer of her species.

Her large black eyes fluttered open as I knelt beside her. “...changing us...” she gasped. “The next phase...”

She convulsed once, the strange purple light flaring beneath her skin before going dark. When I checked her pulse, there was nothing.

Tyrix touched my shoulder. “We can’t stay here.”

“We can’t leave her.” My voice broke. “She has family. They deserve to know...” I couldn’t stop staring at those patches - their color so wrong against her Fanaith skin.

“If we alert medical, the Consortium will know we were here.”

“Then we find a different way.” I met his gaze. “Please.”

He studied me for a moment. “We could arrange an... accident. Draw attention here without involving ourselves directly.”

“The environmental systems are already unstable in this section,” I said, mind racing. “I can trigger a cascade warning - make it look like the power fluctuations finally overloaded something. They’ll have to send a full crew to check it.”

“Do it.” He lifted Xara gently. “I’ll make sure she’s found.”

I knew the cost of compassion out here. Knew the risk we took. But I couldn’t walk away. Not from this.

The environmental control panel yielded to my override codes. A few careful adjustments to the temperature regulators, a crossed wire here, a surge there...

I reached deeper into the access panel, trying to bridge the final connection. Sharp metal bit into my side as I stretched, but I ignored the sting. Getting Xara found was more important than a scratch.

Within minutes, the system’s warning lights began to flash.

The alarm klaxon wailed to life as I finished.

I met Tyrix two sections over.

“It’s done?”

“Yes.” His hand reached for mine in the dark. “Now we follow the evidence. Find out what the ‘next phase’ means.”

“And Jevik?”

“Still out there. Still holds answers.” He squeezed my fingers. “But we need to be smart. Careful.”

I leaned into his warmth for a moment. “When are we anything else?”

His low chuckle rumbled through me. But his grip tightened, protective. Possessive.

We had a lead now - the data pad’s mention of “accelerated evolution,” the strange markings on the wall, Xara’s dying wordsabout “the next phase.” Something systematic was happening on this station.

But also confirmation that the Consortium’s reach went deeper than we’d guessed. They weren’t just watching - they were changing people. Using them.

---