Ryonna's Trials: Novella 1 (Universe in Flames Book 20) Read online

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  She looked at Alix. “Where are my blades? Mind bringing them to me?”

  “Sure thing, boss, I’ll go fetch your toys,” he answered cheerfully before leaving the bridge.

  Grolax swallowed hard.

  “I have nothing to gain from helping you.”

  “This is entirely a matter of perspective. How much do you want to suffer? I know how to inflict pain for days before I end someone’s suffering.”

  Ryonna had to turn off the compassionate part within her when she entered interrogation mode. If she didn’t, she could never do the things that sometimes needed to be done. She was aware of the gray area, and the moral implications of the act of torture. But she was also a firm believer in the end justifying the means. Right this moment, with her own son’s life weighing in the balance, there was no choice.

  There was a moment of silence until Alix returned with Ryonna’s white-weapons arsenal. He gently put them down on the nearest console.

  Grolax grew more nervous at the sight of the blades. When Ryonna took one of the blades and fiddled with it, the amount of sweat on his forehead tripled.

  “I’m sorry for telling you to forget about Ronan. There’s no need to escalate this to more physical violence.”

  “For once we can agree on something, my dear Grolax. And rest assured there won’t be any violence if you tell me what I need to know.”

  “Will you promise not to shoot me if I do?”

  “You have my word. I promise I won’t shoot you.”

  Alix frowned. She looked at him for a second and returned her gaze towards Grolax.

  “Look, I might know someone who worked on Hellstar.”

  “Keep talking.”

  “He was a structural engineer for many years on board the prison.”

  Perfect, thought Ryonna. “I’m gonna need a name and a location.”

  “I don’t remember his name.”

  “Wrong answer,” said Ryonna as she dangled the blade in front of Grolax’s increasingly pale and sweaty face.

  “Wait! I must have his contact info on my personal computer.”

  “Then I suggest you search for it now. And wire that money to my friend Alix here. While you’re at it, why not double it?”

  “What? That’s a lot of money!”

  “What’s more important to you? Your life or your money?”

  Grolax grumbled incomprehensibly as he fetched his personal computer from his pocket and fiddled with it.

  “Work faster.”

  Grolax shot her a look of irritation. Ryonna simply played with the blade, spinning it between her fingers with great dexterity as a visual aid for helping Grolax work faster.

  “There. I don’t have a complete address, but since he lives on Droxia you should be able to locate him on your own.”

  “Computer, set a course for Droxia and engage hyperspace engines at maximum.”

  The computer confirmed the command and the ship entered hyperspace.

  “And his name would be?” added Ryonna.

  “What about letting me go?”

  “We’ll let you go with a ship, don’t worry. Now the name?”

  “H. Raknod”

  “H?”

  “Sorry, that’s all I have.”

  Ryonna growled.

  “You can growl all you want. That’s not gonna bring the other letters of the old man’s first name into my computer’s memory banks.”

  “Old?”

  “Yeah, you know. You get old and retire. That’s why he isn’t working on Hellstar anymore.”

  “How do I know he’s still alive?”

  “Not really my problem, but since his contact is star dated less than a cycle ago on my device, I’d say there’s a good probability he’s still alive.”

  “In case your info doesn’t pan out . . .”

  “Yeah yeah, I know what to expect.”

  “Any other candidates come to mind?”

  “It’s not a requirement for people to work on Hellstar to be included in my contacts list, you know.”

  “What is? In fact, how come you have this one?”

  “That’s between him and me.”

  “Not today it isn’t.”

  “I really don’t like divulging my business relationships. It’s not very professional.”

  “Neither is being shipped back to your family in small pieces in a tight container box.”

  “Point taken. If you must know, I paid him to let some merchandise find its way inside the prison.”

  “You mean bribe.”

  “And the difference being?”

  “You know me, Grolax, I like when things are precise.”

  “Yeah, you’ve always been a stickler for details, I’ll give you that. If my life wasn’t on the line I’d use a different word.”

  “What would that word be?”

  “I’d rather not to say.”

  “Suit yourself. Now, about the payment, if you please.”

  “You’re killing me here.”

  Ryonna smiled. Poor Grolax. He wasn’t aware how accurate his last statement was.

  “So?”

  “Gimme a minute, will you . . . There,” said Grolax, turning towards Alix. “You’re now two million Hathan credits richer.”

  “Well thank you. Such generosity!” Alix did not mask the sarcasm in his voice.

  “Now, if you’d please me send me home?”

  “Right. Mind unlocking this computer device of yours for me, please?”

  “So you can steal all my money? You can’t access my funds without triple DNA verification checks.”

  “Then there’s really no reason for you not to share your contacts list with me.”

  “I’ve done what you ask—” but he was interrupted by the cocking of Ryonna’s blaster, pointing at his head.

  He instinctively raised his hands.

  “Let’s cool down here. You can have it, but would you mind lowering your weapon. We’re all friends here now, right?”

  Ryonna beamed him a smile. “Riiiight.”

  Grolax unlocked his personal computer. It vocally asked for confirmation.

  “Grolax, three seven alpha alpha six niner.”

  “Please confirm unlocking access to internal memory to everyone,” cooed a very feminine voice.

  “Confirmed.”

  Grolax handed the glass slab to Ryonna, clearly annoyed.

  “Thank you. Now come with us to the cargo bay. I can show you how to fly my shuttle back to Hathan.”

  “Does it have a hyperspace engine?”

  “Yes it has.”

  Alix grinned slightly.

  Ryonna led the way to the nearest airlock. She opened its door, grabbed Grolax and threw him inside. She punched the controls to lock the door and entered the decompression sequence on the console.

  “Why did I see that coming a mile away?” said Alix in passing, not really expecting an answer that never came anyway. “That doesn’t bode well for me now, does it?”

  That got Ryonna’s attention.

  “No, I gave you my word . . . but I meant it with you.” She paused, remembering her vision. “I won’t kill you unless you give me reason to.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Lights inside the decompression chamber flashed red as Grolax crashed against the unbreakable window.

  “No! Don’t do this! You said you wouldn’t kill me! You’re a Droxian. You’re bound by your word. This isn’t honorable.”

  “Nice try, Grolax, but I said no such thing. Details, remember? I gave you my word I wouldn’t shoot you. So, technically, I kept my word.”

  “You bitch!” said Grolax in a fit of rage as he pounded louder against the glass.

  “You’ve tried to have me killed, and we both know that wasn’t the first time, you abominable piece of crap. But today sure was the last! You may want to pray to whichever god you believe in.”

  “No! No! Ryonna, I beg you. I’ll give you all my money
. Don’t do this!”

  “How little you know me after all these years. Keep your money. Hope it will serve you well in—” she looked at the counter on the panel—“less than twenty-five seconds. Any last words?”

  “Ryonna, I can tell you who killed your husband if you let me out!”

  “He died in an accident.”

  “No he didn’t! I know who did it!”

  Ryonna felt as if she’d been stabbed in the heart. A shiver traveled through her body.

  “Who? Who did it?”

  “Open the fucking door!” shouted Grolax, pounding on the glass.

  She went for the abort sequence but it didn’t work.

  “Alix!”

  “On it.”

  He fiddled with the controls at incredible speed but they blinked red, refusing every one of his commands. “Computer, override airlock one sequence. NOW!”

  “Malfunction in the data pathways. I’m sorry, Captain, but I cannot comply.”

  Ryonna pushed Alix to the side and punched the controls with her left fist. The glass cracked but nothing happened. She tried the command again but the pad was now unresponsive. She could still see the countdown on the cracked screen. Seven, six, five . . .

  She took her blaster from her holster.

  “No don’t!” screamed Alix.

  But she shot the control panel anyway. It exploded and sparks flew.

  She looked inside the airlock. “Grolax, I tried, tell me who—”

  But then the outer door opened and sucked Grolax into the void, his body disintegrated by the hyperspace field around the ship.

  “You’re insane! If that door had opened while in hyperspace we would have been obliterated, like that fool!”

  But Ryonna wasn’t listening. She dropped her blaster to the floor and collapsed.

  All she muttered was a name. “Jax . . .”

  C H A P T E R

  VI

  Ryonna still couldn’t fathom what Grolax had blurted out in his final moments. She heard Alix’s voice trying to get through to her, but her mind had shut down. The enormity of what had been revealed hit her like a magna-train moving at full, frictionless speed. The idea that her departed husband, Jax, had not died in the transport accident, as she had thought for the past three years, put into light a lot of questioning and doubts. Her brother-in-law had tried to tell her that he thought there had been foul play, but Ryonna, in her grief, had dismissed his accusations as nothing more than grief-stricken paranoia. It fit his personality. She saw him as the conspiracy-theorist type.

  Was he right? Was Jonas right?

  Then another thought slowly but surely blossomed in Ryonna’s mind. Why? Why would anyone want to murder her husband? Soon the single thought had become a garden of questions and scenarios, overwhelming Ryonna and messing with her ability to interact with her surroundings. That was when Alix slapped her.

  That did it. It snapped her brain out of its loop.

  As soon as he saw her react, he took two steps back, put his hands in front of him, and looked at her pleadingly. “I’m really, really sorry, but you’ve been sitting there for more than twenty minutes and you didn’t respond to vocal commands, so I had to try something.”

  Ryonna couldn’t believe it. Twenty minutes? It felt like less than two.

  “It’s okay, Jonas, I’m not mad at you.”

  “Who’s Jonas?”

  “Right, I meant Alix.”

  “Was Jonas the name of your husband?”

  “His brother. My husband’s name was Jax.”

  “Ryonna, it’s entirely possible that Grolax invented that story to get out of there alive. The mind will fabricate anything in a panic to survive.”

  Ryonna thought about this, but Droxians were very empathic by nature. She had sensed zero deception from Grolax.

  “Thanks, Alix. In this case my gut feeling tells me he might have been telling the truth.”

  “Then I’m sorry for you. This must not be easy to deal with. How long ago did Jax pass?”

  “About three years, and a good two since I . . .”

  “Since you?”

  “Since I had to run away from Droxia. Could all of what’s been happening to my family lately be linked?”

  Alix didn’t know how to answer this rhetorical question.

  “I’m sorry. It’s been a long ride, and it looks like the finish line just got pushed back even farther.”

  “I meant to ask earlier but, under the circumstances, it didn’t seem important with respect to my survival.”

  “Shoot.”

  “When Grolax gave me your kill warrant, it was a personal request; nothing official. He didn’t pass through any official channels.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like him. Why does it matter?”

  “Well, when I entered your name in the Bounty Hunter’s Collective Warrant Database, I saw you’re already being targeted; but that particular warrant required you to be caught alive for the bounty to be collected.”

  “Which begs the question as to why you tried to kill me and not disable my ship.”

  “Honestly, I was pounding your shuttle and would have accepted any result, disabled and captured, or dead.”

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  “Well, Grolax paid a lot more for you dead than the empire wants for your arrest.”

  “There must be something I own or something I know, and I think it’s linked to my husband’s death.”

  “That would make sense. What do we do now, though?”

  “Well, if my next stop is Droxia, I might as well go see Jonas. I owe him one hell of an apology, and I’ll need his help locating that retired engineer. He might be my only hope to escape Hellstar.”

  “You’re really going in? You know your chances of escaping are slim to none, right?”

  “Going in unprepared, yes. I would just join my son there and we’d both be captives, at best. With the right amount of preparation, I think any prison is escapable.”

  “Well, you’ve surely got balls for even attempting it. But under the circumstances, with your son being held there, I totally dig why you would.”

  “You have any children, Alix?”

  “I used to.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Now is not the time. You’re on the clock.”

  “Right! I need to get Ronan out of there, if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  “What do you mean ‘let’s’?”

  “Well, we have work to do on Droxia, don’t we?”

  “We?”

  “You can use the backup and you know it.”

  “I only need your ship, Alix. You don’t need to come. I promise to let you know where I leave it. I’ll simply activate a beacon. But right now you should take the shuttle and stay as far away from me as possible.”

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather tag along.”

  “Alix, you not only got paid very well today, but you also saved my hide on Hathan. You more than deserve your life back, twice over, in fact.”

  “And I have my life.”

  “I have to admit I feel sorry for torturing you when we first . . . met.”

  “No apology is necessary, Ryonna. If our roles were reversed, I would most likely have killed you. Unless I needed anything from you, in which case I would have use similar methods of extraction. So forget about it. I fired first, after all. I did not expect you to let me go, though.”

  “What did you expect?”

  “That I would have to gain your trust little by little and just give you the shaft when you least expected it.”

  “I figured as much, but you’ve had plenty of opportunity to not only do that, but still honor your original warrant, so why didn’t you?”

  “Same reason you didn’t feel like killing me and gave me a second chance, even if you had every intention of finishing me later.”

  “At first, I must admit I did.”

  “Se
e. We’re not so different, you and I. In any case, I’m glad things turned out the way they did.”

  “So am I.”

  * * *

  It felt weird being back on Droxia. Alix had repaired the holo-suit and had even provided some Droxian DNA from his extensive database. Ryonna looked like any another Droxian woman, and that was all that mattered. Why the Obsidian had put a warrant for her capture remained a mystery. Until a few days ago she really didn’t care about the why; but things had changed.

  She was happy that Alix came along, despite insisting he should go. She liked having some support in her current endeavor. But it still nagged her, seeing herself kill Alix in the vision she’d had when they first met. She had never been wrong, so unless something had changed with her ability, Alix would die, and soon.

  It was night in Xandria, the town where she used to live with Jax, and until she’d had to make a run for it after the Obsidian had started chasing her. The town was breathtaking. Tall, crystal towers, as high as the eye could see, with many buildings disappearing into the slightly purple clouds illuminated by the planet’s moons. The air was fresh and a small wind caressed her face as she made her way deeper into town. She could have driven all the way on the speed cycle she’d borrowed from Alix. But when she passed the park where she and Jax used to bring Ronan to play, she felt like walking the rest of the way.

  Ryonna arrived at the block where her brother-in-law Jonas lived. At the building’s entrance she swiped Jonas’ name on the glass HUD.

  “Who are you?”

  “It’s me, Ryonna.”

  “I don’t know what sick joke this is, but you’re not Ryonna. Get lost!”

  “Wait.” She deactivated the vocal morphing unit of the suit. “It’s me. Listen to my voice.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I need your help.”

  “That’s just precious, after all the shit you gave me.”

  “And there’s something else. It concerns Jax. You . . .”

  “What?”

  “You were right. I’m sorry. We need to talk.”

  He unlocked the building’s door.

  “I’ll be waiting for you in my flat.”

  “On my way.”

  Ryonna took the turbo elevator to the thirty-seventh floor. It took just under five seconds. She turned off her holo-suit while the doors split open. Jonas waited by the door of his flat at the end of the hall. A pit opened up in her stomach. Their last conversations had not been pleasant, and she felt like a fool now, considering what she had learned just a few hours ago. It took a few seconds to find the courage to walk towards Jonas. Thoughts and emotions boiled up into a hot mix that quickly turned to anxiety.