Page 84 of Kryxis

“Save it,” Dani snapped.

Her father tensed, eyes widening. “You dare speak to me like that.”

“You have no right to give the governing militia permission to come here and take Kry—the vrisha—away. They don’t have the authority. That’s up to the alliance. Because he is one of theirs. He’s protected under their law.”

“Their law only extends so far. We have an agreement with the governing militia. You should know this since eighty percent of our security personnel come from them. If the vrisha had stayed on X110, then perhaps it would have been up to the alliance. But you brought the vrisha onboard, and the ship is our territory. The vrisha has attacked our people and therefore we have the right to get rid of it as we see fit.”

“I…don’t believe it’s him who hurt our crew.”

“What else could it be, Dani?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t believe it’s him. I don’t.”

“Whatever happened to you on X110 has clearly traumatized you. You’re not thinking clearly. You’ve allowed the vrisha to manipulate you into thinking it was harmless, but it is not.”

She shook her head, tears again stinging her eyes. “I’ll prove it. Somehow, I will. And I’ll expose Marityne for what they did. I’ll tell the alliance.”

“You do that and you’ll never set foot in Nexacor.”

“You partnered with them too. With Marityne. But they needed their dirty secrets cleaned up first.”

“You’ll be taken off the ship and left at the next port until I send for someone to pick you up. Then we’ll deal with legal matters.”

“Don’t bother sending someone to grab me. Because I don’t care if you’re my father. I don’t give a fuck about trying to be worthy of you anymore. I don’t give a fuck about Nexacor!” Before he could respond, she severed the signal. She let out ashout of despair, slamming her fist against the table. She pressed her head against the cool metal surface, her body shaking.

The lights above changed from a warm yellow to a deep orange.

“A lockdown is in place,” came a voice overhead. “All staff, please proceed to your designated unit. This is a code-red lockdown. Please proceed to your unit.”

Tears dripped down onto the table, her nails digging into her palms. She had to see him. She had to know. Had to hear him tell her the truth. At the very least. Whether he did it or not, she had to find him.

She pushed herself off the table and made for the door. Nadine was down one side of the hall, speaking to a pair of soldiers. She looked over and they locked eyes.

“Dani!” she called, starting for her.

Dani turned the opposite way and made for the elevator. She slipped inside and slapped the button for her level, letting the doors shut on Nadine before she could reach them. She made her way back down to her floor, bolting out of the elevator and rushing down the hall to her unit.

Her door was wide open and bent in the middle. She stepped inside and knew immediately that Kryxis was gone. Her table was overturned and a few of the growth tanks on her shelf of plants were shattered on the ground.

She went over to the computer and found the datachip gone.

Covering her face in her hands, she tried to clamp down the cry of rage rising in her throat. She whirled around and rushed to the bedroom but found it dark and empty.

“Chowder?” she called. She swore if they hurt her cat, she would kill someone.

There was a soft mew coming from her closet. She opened it and found Chowder at the bottom sitting on a blanket. Letting out a cry of relief, she swept him into her arms.

Quickly, she found his carrier and set him inside. Then she went for a lock box in the closet. Thankfully, it looked like the search team was only tasked with grabbing the datachip because they hardly touched her things. She also had a feeling Kryxis didn’t get caught. The fact they went into lockdown told her he fled before they could find him.

She opened her lock box and took out the gun Kryxis had given her, latching it to her belt. She grabbed her stunner and shoved it into another pocket then she took out her garometer and clasped it to her wrist. She almost felt sorry for lying to Garret about it, but she was thankful she had it now to track Kryxis down.

Picking up Chowder’s carrier and throwing the strap over her shoulder, she rushed out of her unit. From above, she noticed the vent was open and the grate lay on its side a few feet away. She adjusted her garometer to search for energy higher than twelve, but nothing came up.

She went back to the elevator and made her way up again, to level five. The passageways were empty as she raced over to another unit and knocked.

Myrell opened her door. “Dani, what in the deep heavens are you doing?”

“I need you to keep Chowder for a little while,” she said, taking off the strap and handing the carrier to her.

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