Page 129 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid
They hustled over to the stairwell door. Thalen didn’t hesitate, cleanly slicing off the hand of a guard with his scyra and using it to unlock the barrier.
“That was almost too easy,” Thalen said, backing through the doorway.
They climbed the stairs two at a time. When they reached the top, they found the hall ominously empty. The door to the bridge lay before them, unguarded.
He hastened forward, too intent on reaching Cordelia to linger on the strangeness of it. When Thalen brought the hand to the scanner… nothing. The door didn’t budge.
“He must not have clearance,” Thalen said, frowning down at the bloodless limb.
“Rentir.” The voice over the intercom sent ice sliding down his spine.
Foolishly, he would have thought himself beyond its effects only a few moments before. Now, he understood how deeply his education in pain truly ran. Fear and subservience seemed etched into his bones. His back tensed in reflex for the lashings to come.
“I was sure you were dead,” the voice continued in a familiar, lazy drawl. “It wasn’t until Elten joined us that I saw theevidence for myself. Rentir, my most loyal pet, turned against me. Your creator. Your god.”
A shudder rolled through him. Shame bowed his head.
“Ignore him,” Thalen said tightly, squeezing his shoulder. “Perhaps there is another way around. We’re nearly there, Rentir. Don’t lose hope now.”
He left Rentir’s side to search the hall, skimming for another service panel.
“Now you’ve come to… what, exactly? Take control of the ship? Is this elaborate plan part of some desperate ruse to impress the female on my bridge?”
He stiffened, his head jerking up, eyes darting for the source of the threat to Cordelia despite his knowledge that the male could be on the other end of the ship.
“Does she know what you are?” The Lord Commander continued, his voice dripping with condescension. “A traitor twice over. Is that the sort of thing which appeals to human females?” He hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose it makes a certain sense. They were a truly primitive species. The best thing they ever did for the galaxy was annihilating themselves before it fell to someone else.”
The auretian leader sighed heavily.
Down the corridor, Thalen cursed beneath his breath. He shook his head sharply.
No way around. The only way was through, then. He looked helplessly back at the door that separated him from Cordelia.
“It is not too late, Rentir. I have invested such time into you, such effort. It would be a shame to waste it. Come back to me, my pet.” His tone changed to a commanding one. “Drop your weapon.”
His hand loosened reflexively, nearly sending his blaster clattering to the ground, but the last thread of his willpower held.
“We go back,” Rentir said, ignoring his former master. “We backtrack until we find someone with the authority to open the door.”
Thalen nodded, and together they made for the stairwell door. They took three steps before plasma fire battered the railing beside them. Hot slag flew at Rentir’s face, tracing across his cheek in a scalding path.
“There’s too many!” Thalen shouted over the endless whine of blasters.
They backtracked into the brief reprieve of the hall, where there would be nowhere to hide in a matter of moments. They may as well be firing targets.
“You didn’t think it would be so simple, surely?” The Lord Commander taunted. “Now, Rentir. You were once a part of this ship’s security forces. You should know better.”
He did know better. No one had ever gotten far on this ship while he’d worked it. Certainly, no one had ever made it off. Why would they be any different?
“Drop your weapon, Rentir. I’ve told them to take you alive. You want to live, don’t you? You always did. It’s your best attribute. It’s precisely that drive that makes you so… biddable.”
Not always, he thought, tightening his grip around his weapon.
That day he had taken the shot meant for Thalen, the day he’d finally understood the gravity of his betrayal, he had not wanted to live. There had been something greater to him than life.
Honor.
His breath caught at the realization. It had been honor that had moved his body that day at its own expense, an honor that Lord Commander Tellefan had not been able to beat out of him even with the better part of a decade.
