Blue solace complete ser.., p.123
Blue Solace: Complete Series Boxset, page 123
“That goes for you too,” she said, arching a brow.
Crow huffed. “I’ll be going as a guard or something.”
Finn cleared his throat. “Do I have any say in this?”
Crow gave him a hard look. “Do I have any say in you going down there?”
Finn sighed. “No.”
Chapter 19
The Crevice Resort on Planet Fire Veil
Finn ran a hand over the gauzy white fabric of his tight vest as he waited with the others. It covered the scars from his recent injuries and went well with the white lace and satin underwear and garter belt he wore. The only things he didn’t like about his outfit were the uncomfortable white slippers he wore and the temporary slave tattoo on his hand.
Rufus was shielded and floating above his head, out of sight but not out of mind. The bot was Finn’s only weapon.
Noe had explained that more than just the Weasel dropped off a variety of slaves at the resort. According to Noe’s new friend, the slavers brought their selections straight to the resort’s back door and let Omiri look them over to see if she was interested.
Typically, a few guards and the slaves took a shuttle to the resort, so Finn and the others had kept their party simple.
While there had looked to be hundreds of guards around the perimeter, their shuttle was waved through the entrance with only a few questions asked.
A few moments later, they stood at the back door. Finn, Brisco, and several Charybdis Station soldiers were dressed to impress, and Crow and Parker played the well-armed guards.
“This place sure is fancy.” Parker whistled. The resort was a massive structure of red stone that blended in with the mountains around it. From behind, the resort appeared to be surprisingly plain, but from the front, it was a breathtaking combination of stone and glass.
With the atmospheric shield, the temperature was comfortable, even though they could see heat rising from the rocks outside of the resort grounds.
Brisco tugged at his sparkly gold boy shorts. “This isn’t where I thought I’d be at thirty-eight.”
One of shielded operatives chuckled, and Finn recognized Noe’s voice. “We’ll make this fast.”
An invisible hand settled on his back. He hadn’t managed to talk Berenna out of coming. “Thank you for this, Finn,” she said quietly.
“Any excuse to wear my favorite lingerie.” Finn smoothed his hand over his lace-covered ass.
Crow groaned, and Parker fought back a laugh. Before the conversation could continue, the door opened.
The woman in front of them was a stunningly beautiful human with olive skin and dark, wavy hair. Her robes were red and gold Fallon silk, and a long strand of Fire Veil opals hung around her neck.
The guard behind her was a wall of muscle.
The woman stepped outside and looked all the slaves up and down before turning to Crow and Parker. “I haven’t seen you before.”
“I assume you’re Omiri?” Crow asked, smiling.
Damn, even his fake smiles are charming. Finn fought the urge to wrap himself around Crow.
The woman nodded. “Yes. The resort will take these three.” She pointed to Finn and two of the other soldiers. She licked her lips as she eyed Brisco and ran a pointed, blood red nail down his chest. “This one, I’ll buy for my personal collection. I like mature specimens myself.”
Finn held back a laugh at Brisco’s flat expression.
“The others I don’t want.” She waved them away. “The resort will send credits to your account. I trust you left your information at the spaceport?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Crow nodded politely. “Thank you for your time.”
The guard grunted and waved Finn, Brisco, Olivia, and Marni inside the door. Finn could practically feel the tension coming from Crow. Trust me, big guy.
Crow and Parker slowly ushered the other soldiers away and back toward the shuttle. They disappeared from sight as Finn and the others were herded away from the door and into a room full of servants and slaves.
Berenna’s hand on his back was a reassuring weight.
“Take them to the slave quarters. Marlanna will deal with them.” Omiri pulled Brisco’s arm. “You’ll come with me. I have the perfect outfit for you, and my assistant can get you acclimated. We’re going to have so much fun before I add you to my collection.”
Brisco shot him a panicked look, but Finn didn’t know what to do. It would take some time for the Full Moon operatives to get in place. That shit sounds ominous.
“Berenna,” he whispered, confident he wouldn’t be heard over the talking around them. “Will you follow Brisco?”
She patted his back, then her hand fell away.
Finn and the others were led through wide halls full of bustling people. Occasionally, he would get a glimpse into one of the front rooms – rooms that were full of opulent furniture and artwork. Clearly, those were the rooms where the resort members spent their time.
Eventually, they entered a small, narrow chamber filled with cots. The guard grunted. “Stay here.” He shut and locked the door behind him.
Olivia, a Drall-Wello hybrid, looked around the room. “Not much here. Nothing that would make a weapon.”
Marnie, a Fallon-Havenite hybrid, scratched his bearded chin. “This is weird.”
“Seriously.” Finn went to the door and pressed his ear to it. “I suppose we’re supposed to wait for this Marlanna, but I don’t like it. Let’s shield up and get out of here.”
“I can open the door.” Olivia came to stand beside him and worked on the door console. A few moments later, it opened.
“Activate your shields and search for Ezvin and the others. Arm yourselves if you can. If the attack doesn’t happen soon, meet back at the backdoor.” Finn pressed the small shield pinned to the inside of his garter belt. “I’m going to check on Brisco.”
“Yes, sir.” Marnie’s voice was already moving out the door.
“He hates small spaces,” Olivia whispered, then left.
Finn traced their path back down the hall, then turned down the corridor Brisco had been taken. Traffic in the halls grew steadily lighter as he went, trying to peek into each room along the way. The lighting and décor increased in quality, leading Finn to think he was moving into one of the guest areas until the hallway ended at a large, ornate door.
Finn shrugged and pressed the console. The door cracked, and he looked in.
Omiri lay on the floor, the hole in her head likely from the phaser Berenna held. Three large guards also lay dead around the room. One near the door and one next to Omiri. The third lay next to the surgical table Brisco was strapped to.
Berenna stood over a kneeling slave, phaser pressed to the Wello-Dedril hybrid’s head.
Finn opened the door the rest of the way and slipped inside, shutting and locking the door behind him. “Berenna? What happened?”
Berenna startled and looked up. She was pale and shaking, but her hand gripped the phaser tightly. “Brisco’s unconscious. Omiri injected him with something, and the guards strapped him to the table. She was going to do something horrible, Finn. Look.” She pointed toward the shelving along three of the walls.
“Fuck.” Finn swallowed bile. Containers lined each shelf. They were filled with fluid and body parts. There were perfectly preserved heads on one shelf and what looked like hearts on another. Other rows contained different body parts. Things Finn didn’t want to dwell too much on. “What the hell is this place?”
“The Mistress’s collection room,” the kneeling slave said.
Finn narrowed his eyes and watched the slave closely. The woman looked completely unconcerned, and she had a phaser to her head.
“Berenna, why are you holding a phaser on her? She’s a slave.”
Berenna shook her head. “She’s Omiri’s assistant. She was helping her. She dressed Brisco in that black outfit he’s wearing.”
“Did she have a choice?” Finn asked, watching the slave carefully.
The woman didn’t seem frightened or worried. She also didn’t rush to defend herself. “I serve the Mistress.”
“The Mistress is dead.” Finn walked over and kicked Omiri. “There is no one to serve anymore.”
“I serve the Mistress,” the woman repeated.
“Shit.” Finn looked around and easily found bindings. It’s a torture chamber. Of course, there are bindings.
He quickly bound the slave and moved her away from the table.
Berenna wiped at her eyes. “I killed the guards, then the woman. It was easy because I was shielded. They didn’t even expect it.”
“Nice shots.”
“Ival made me learn.” She swallowed. “There’s something wrong with the slave woman. Omiri was obviously twisted, but that slave isn’t all there. What have they done to my baby, Finn?”
Finn shook his head and checked Brisco’s vitals. “I don’t know, Berenna, but we’re getting Ezvin and the others out of here. It looks like Brisco is alive, just unconscious. I’m going to activate our shields and carry him out of here.”
“You can’t.” Berenna shook her head. “Your injuries are still too fresh. I’ll stay here with him. Go find my son.”
“Shit.” Finn rubbed his ears. “Lock the door behind me.”
“Okay.”
Finn took one of the guard’s phaser and vibroblade. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
A loud alert sounded through the wall comms in the room.
“The attack has started. I’ll send someone here.”
“Thank you.” Berenna gripped his shoulder. “I’ll protect him. I swear.”
Finn left the room and waited until he heard the lock engage before running down the hall. Soldiers wearing the Belcrest insignia filled the halls while the servants and slaves knelt against the walls.
Finn frowned and focused on Rufus. The bot soared in front of him, firing shots, one after another while Finn used the vibroblade to cut down the bewildered guards. By the time he made it to the end of the hallway, more than twenty Belcrest assassins were dead, and his shield was shattered.
He looked back at the slaves and servants. “Stay here, out of the way. We aren’t here to harm you.”
They just stared, no one willing to speak up. He thought of Donna and Bertie. The two slaves had been willing to help from the start, and they had seen horrible things. These people have seen some very, very bad shit.
“Do any of you know where they keep the children?” he asked.
They simply stared at him.
“Okay. I’ll find them. Don’t worry.” Finn shook his head and moved slowly to the next room. Without his shield, he was an obvious target.
The resort shook, and he heard the engine of a ship flying above. Finn grinned and jumped on the next guard he came across, cutting him down quickly while Rufus took out another.
A few more dead guards later, Finn found Marnie with a large group of children, ranging from two years old to twelve. “Where’s Olivia?”
Marnie urged the children to hurry. “She’s holding off the guards behind me. What’s ahead?”
“Just dead guards until you get to the backdoor of the resort. I’ll go help Olivia.”
“Thanks. I’ll get the kids out.”
A familiar face caught Finn’s attention, and he almost cried. “Ezvin!”
The four-year-old looked up at him, eyes curious.
Finn shook his head and smiled. “It’s good to see you, kid. Marnie, take care of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
Finn pushed past them and ran toward the sound of fighting. Olivia had a phaser, but her shield barely shimmered around her, and she clutched at a wound on her arm from a blade.
Her bot cut through the guards coming through the entrance to the slave quarters, but there were too many.
Finn sent Rufus in to help thin down the guards and ducked behind a cabinet lining the walls. “Olivia, we need to get out of here.”
She shook her head and ducked down beside him. “They get past and they’ll get the children.”
“I could really use a grenade right now.” Finn groaned and pulled the phaser from his garter belt. “You know Selene once told me you can’t do battle in your underwear?”
Olivia snorted. “Obviously, she was wrong.”
Finn fired another shot, then ducked down again. “We’re stuck, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are.” Olivia’s gave him a grim look. “You need to leave. I’ll cover you.”
“Not happening.” Finn fired more shots, then ducked down again.
“Lieutenant, you have to.”
“Fuck that.” Finn growled. “I don’t leave people behind.”
“Neither do we.” Moyra’s voice came from behind him. “Damn, your ass looks good in that lingerie, Lieutenant.”
A shield was pressed into his hand, and he grinned. “You’re my favorite captain, Moyra.”
“I’m telling Web you said that.”
A concussion grenade flew through the air, and Olivia and Finn ducked down low, covering their ears. The line of Belcrest guards thinned considerably.
Finn whooped and activated his shield before running toward the soldiers, blade drawn. With a fresh shield and Olivia and Moyra at his back, they took out the guards quickly. Finn made a note to tell Hack he really needed to promote Olivia.
“Head back to the backdoor or move forward?” Moyra asked.
“Olivia needs a medic,” Finn started to say, then he heard a very familiar voice.
“No one is supposed to know about the Crevice. We’re supposed to be safe here, yet fucking Charybdis Station is attacking us. I recognize their ship insignias. I demand you get me out of here.”
“President Wineon.” He laughed. “Oh, we finally found the most hated person in the Silverlight System.”
Moyra grinned. “Push forward?”
“Olivia, go join Marnie and the children,” Finn ordered.
She snorted. “I’ll quote you here, Lieutenant: fuck that.”
Finn sighed. “I should have known.”
They slipped out of the broken door of the slave quarters and down a short hallway. An elaborate archway led to a formal dining room.
Finn crouched low and started counting guards.
Several finely dressed people huddled together across the room while servants and slaves were forced to stand in front of them, making a living wall of protection. Fuckers.
The only other door was shut and locked. Finn could hear fighting on the other side of it.
President Wineon stood next to a middle-aged human man. She looked as neatly and modestly dressed as when she last appeared in the media. “You are supposed to guarantee safety and confidentiality, Newland. I should have known better than to trust a bourgeoise family. Your father was a gambler for fuck’s sake.”
The man’s face grew red. “I’ve given you and everyone else here a place to play your twisted games, Wineon. You and yours aren’t any better than me, so don’t you dare talk down to me.”
Finn shook his head and aimed his phaser at the closest guard. He fired into the woman’s shield until it broke. There were sixteen guards in total, and Moyra, Olivia, and Finn took them out quickly. Thank you, catnip gods, for the Full Moon division’s technology.
Newland shoved Wineon in front of him. “Please don’t hurt us.”
“You.” The pain-filled word made Finn spin around. Berenna stood in the doorway, a woozy looking Brisco behind her. Her voice shook with anger. “You tore my family apart. You took my son from me.”
Finn thought about what she didn’t say. Wineon is the one who put her into the position to be used like some disposable toy, over and over again.
Wineon’s eyes went to the slave mark on Berenna’s hand. She shook her head, eyes full of fear. “No, no, no. You have it all wrong. I was just doing what Humans First told me to do.”
Berenna raised her phaser and fired one shot.
Wineon crumpled to the ground, hand pressed to the wound in her chest. “Help me.”
No one moved, and Finn watched the life slowly drain from her eyes. He looked back at Newland and the others. He knew these people were likely just as bad as Wineon had been. He deactivated his visibility and held his phaser up. “You kept Vextonian slaves despite the many warnings Charybdis Station broadcasted across all systems. You will surrender to me now or die.”
Newland fell to his knees, arms raised high. “I surrender. Take the Vextonians.”
Moyra’s form shimmered, then solidified next to him. She held a phaser in each hand. “Slaves and servants to the right of the room. Now!”
By the time the fighting came through the door, Finn had resort members bound and the slaves and servants with the others at the back of the resort.
Crow pushed through the door, eyes scouring the room until they landed on Finn. “Are you alright?”
Finn smiled widely and kicked Wineon’s leg. “Yeah. I am.”
Crow held Finn wrapped in a blanket in his arms as they stood at one of the wide windows of the resort. Weber and the other captains had finished securing the resort, and all members were either dead or sitting in cells aboard Charybdis Station ships just like Verulo Malone.
Medics rushed around, tending the wounded. Olivia sat on the ground beside them, wincing as one of the medics bandaged her arm.
“Look.” Finn pointed out the window.
Crow looked up and almost swallowed his tongue. A large, fully grown Fire Veil dragon flew over the atmospheric shield. Two smaller dragons flew behind it. Now that the defensive shield was down, the native creatures could move onto the resort grounds. The bright sunshine glinted off the deep red and gold scales of the dragon.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Finn asked, awe in his voice. “One day, Princess Buttercup may be that big.”
Olivia groaned. “You mean Princess isn’t fully grown yet? General Hackett isn’t going to be pleased.”
A little boy ran through the room. Marnie chased behind him. “Ezvin, wait. We need to make sure it’s safe.”
“Mama!”
Berenna pushed away the medic checking her over and fell to her knees. “Ezvin!”
