Page 56 of Human Reclaimed
I vaulted a moss-covered boulder, my muscles burning pleasantly with the exertion. The pirates didn’t know who they were dealing with—not with Talia, and certainly not with me. They’d taken something precious from Planet Alpha, from our colony… from me.
The realization hit me mid-stride. She wasn’t just a brilliant tactician or even just a lover. She had become essential to me. The thought of losing her was too much to bear.
I pushed myself harder, the jungle flying past in a green blur. In the distance, plumes of smoke marked where our first defensive line had held against the pirate scout vessels. Beyond that lay our colony—our home—the small city we’d carved from this wild planet. The place I’d brought Talia against her will, never imagining she would come to mean everything to me.
“Just a little longer,” I murmured, as if she could hear me across the miles that separated us. “Use that brilliant mind of yours. Buy me time. I’m coming for you.”
I sprinted through the final stretch of dense jungle, my lungs burning with each breath. The pirate capital ship had landed in a clearing just west of my hidden oasis—thankfully not desecrating it completely but too close to the one place on this planet that had become sacred to me.
Through the tangle of emerald foliage, I caught glimpses of the vessel’s metallic hull reflecting the afternoon sunlight. My heart hammered, not from exertion but from primal fear. The ship’s engines had begun their warm-up sequence—a low, building hum that sent birds scattering from nearby trees.
“No,” I growled through clenched teeth. “You’re not taking her.”
Two guards patrolled the lowered ramp, plasma rifles slung casually over their shoulders. They hadn’t spotted me yet. I crouched lower, circling to approach from the blind spot created by the ship’s shadow. My hand moved to the combat knife strapped to my thigh—a weapon I’d carried through countless battles but rarely needed to use since settling on Planet Alpha.
Today would be different.
The first guard never saw me coming. One moment he was scanning the tree line, and the next my hand clamped over his mouth while my blade found the soft spot beneath his jaw. I lowered him silently to the ground, his eyes wide with surprise but unable to voice a warning. The second guard turned too late, my knife already in motion. A quick, practiced thrust, and he joined his companion on the jungle floor.
I stepped over their bodies without hesitation, moving up the ramp with practiced stealth. The ship’s interior was dimly lit, its corridors narrow and utilitarian. From somewhere above came the soft hum of the navigation systems engaging. The cockpit would be my first destination—without pilots, the ship wasn’t going anywhere.
Two pirates manned the controls, their attention focused on the preflight sequence. Neither noticed my reflection in the viewport glass. The first died mid-sentence, something about departure coordinates cut short by my blade. The second reached for an alarm panel, but my knife found his throat before his fingers found the button.
I wiped my blade clean on the pilot’s jacket, my mind clear and focused despite the violence. This wasn’t the battlefield programming of my past. This was something more primal. Something human. They had taken Talia, and that made this personal.
Moving deeper into the ship, I checked each compartment systematically. The vessel was surprisingly empty. Most of their crew must have been lost in the attack in the northern ravine. Good. Fewer obstacles between me and Talia.
I finally spotted her through a small reinforced window in a door marked with warning symbols. An interrogation chamber. She sat chained to a metal table, her wrists bound but her posture straight and defiant. Despite everything, my heart swelled with pride at the sight of her being so brave.
The pirate captain—Delia, if I remembered correctly from our intelligence briefings—paced around Talia like a predator. The cybernetic eye implanted in her left socket glowed red, scanning Talia as she spoke.
“So, you’ll provide the coordinates for their evacuation route?” Delia asked, her voice muffled through the door but still audible.
Talia nodded, her expression carefully contrite. “They’ll be moving the pregnant cyborgs through the southern caves. Minimal security—they think that route is unknown to outsiders.”
Clever. We had no such evacuation plan in the southern sector. Talia was feeding them false intelligence to buy me time. Our eyes met suddenly through the glass, a flicker of recognition passing between us. Before I could move, Delia caught the change in Talia’s expression and spun toward the door.
I reacted instinctively as the pirate captain’s hand shot toward Talia’s blonde braid, yanking her head back. In three strides I was through the door, my hand closing around Delia’s throat and lifting her off her feet.
“Wrong move,” I snarled, tightening my grip.
A flash of metal caught my peripheral vision too late. Pain exploded in my neck as Delia plunged a needle into my flesh, a triumphant smile twisting her features despite my grip on her throat.
“Rune!” Talia’s voice cut through my shock.
I felt whatever she’d injected begin to spread—cold fire through my veins. With precious seconds remaining before it took full effect, I lifted my blaster with my free hand.
“Talia, brace yourself.”
I fired at her restraints, precision shots that shattered the metal cuffs without grazing her skin. In a fluid motion that spoke of years of combat training, she lunged from her chair, grabbed Delia’s blaster, and pressed it against the pirate captain’s temple.
“This is for the pregnant cyborgs and hybrid babies you planned to capture,” Talia hissed, her voice ice-cold. “For your sick galactic dominance plan.”
The blast left a scorched hole where Delia’s cybernetic eye had been. Her body went limp in my grasp, and I let it drop to the floor.
My mind struggled to process Talia’s words. Galactic dominance? What had Delia revealed during the interrogation? But my thoughts were already turning foggy, the edges blurring. My muscles began to spasm, my limbs twitching beyond my control.
“Rune? Rune!” Talia’s voice seemed to come from underwater as she caught me, lowering me to the ground. “Stay with me! Don’t you dare die on me!”
