“Rock—” He didn’t have to say anything else.
“I got him. You take care of Se.”
Chapter Thirteen
A fog clouded
Kain’s
mind. Something didn’t feel right. He couldn’t place a finger on it, but nothing looked as it should. Wait, his eyes were closed. He tried to open them, but they wouldn’t cooperate.
He thought back to what had happened, and immediately, finding out where he was became his top priority. Someone spoke to his left. He turned his head and a shooting pain raced over his body.
“You shouldn’t move your head.”
“Mel? Is that you? Where are we? Rave, where’s Rave.” He finally managed to open his eyes and tried to scramble off the bed, but Mel pushed him back down.
“
Se’s
here. I’ll let her tell you what happened.” Mel gave his shoulder a squeeze and left the room.
“Se?”
He opened his hand and waited for her to take it. “What happened?”
Where they still on the ship? No, they couldn’t be. Mel was there. Where were they?
The bed dipped as Se settled beside him, and
Kain
curled his fingers around hers.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Coming to see you on the bridge.”
“What about the attack?”
He closed his eyes, but his brain wasn’t working.
“We were attacked? Why?”
“I’m not sure. The Alliance started firing. You hit your head and have been out for hours. We were starting to worry.”
“It isn’t supposed to happen this way.”
“You keep saying that, but it keeps happening.”
“We’re being set up, Se, and I don’t know why. None of it makes any sense. Where’s Rave, here?” He opened his eyes to look around the room in hopes of seeing Rave there, but if he was in the room, wouldn’t he have said something?
“He left.”
“What do you mean?” Shit, this couldn’t be good.
“What do you think I mean. He’s gone.”
“He can’t do this alone,”
Kain
whispered.
The old Rave might be at his side, but he had a feeling the new Rave had gone off half cocked to take care of the problem himself.
“You think I didn’t argue that with him? I’m fucking pissed. He had the brute, Rock, hold me back. I had to watch him fly away.”
Damn it. Why couldn’t he have waited?
“Let’s go.”
“Back down,
Kain
.
You can’t go anywhere in your condition.”
“I’m not leaving him alone again. We both know that. So give me something for the headache, and let’s get out of here. We’re the only backup he has.”
Mel returned with something in her hands.
“Here, take these.” She handed him a couple of pills.
“What is it?” Se asked.
“Something for his head.
Rock has a transport ready for us,” Mel answered.
Kain
looked at her, but all he saw was Rave. They needed to leave. He tossed back the pills, ready to go. His heart would shatter if anything else happened to Rave. This time, he would be there when Rave needed him. He had to.
“
You coming
too, Mel?” Se asked.
His words flowed over hers, “No.”
“Yes.” Mel looked at him. “I’m a doctor. If one of you gets hurt, I can help. Plus, it’s my brother out there. I’m done sitting by the sidelines. I’m going.”
“You can start helping now. If you and Se can help me to the transport, we can get going. How long ago did he leave?”
A new voice he didn’t recognise entered the conversation.
“An hour ago.”
Kain
turned to the voice. “You must be Rock.”
The man was massive and intimidating. It wasn’t just the tattoos and the hair, the very aura around him screamed back off.
“That would be me. If you ladies head to the ship,
Kain
and I will be right behind you.”
The two women looked at each other before leaving.
Kain
shut his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
“Why did you let him leave?” he asked. Rock was a big man. He could have stopped Rave if he’d really wanted to.
“You have met the man, right?”
Kain
laughed at that. “He is stubborn.”
“That’s the understatement of the year. I talked to him before he left, told him it was a bad idea. He told me he had a score to settle. I couldn’t keep him from that. A man has a right to take his retribution.”
“We need to get to him. He can’t do this by himself.”
“My ship is fast. Faster than the pod he’s in. We should catch up before he reaches
Seid
II.”
Kain’s
head started to feel a little better. The time had come. He would have his man back by his side, but first he had a call to make to get things set right.
Time to bring in the big guns.
Fritz had to be behind this, and who knew Davidson’s reason?
“I need to get out a transmission before we go. A call I should have made a long time ago.”
“I have great communications onboard. You can make the call while we fly.”
Rock offered him a hand up, and
Kain
took it. He pulled back his hand, but Rock held firm and tugged him closer.
Kain
looked into the man’s eyes and waited for him to speak.
“I’m not helping you. This is for Rave. I don’t like you.”
“You don’t need to like me. As long as you’re in this for Rave, we’re good.”
“As long as we’re clear.
Can you walk?”
Kain
nodded and reclaimed his hand. He gestured for the man to lead the way.
“Why didn’t you let Se go with Rave?”
“He didn’t want her there. I figured it would be quicker to let him go alone. We were leaving, with or without you, in about five minutes.”
He liked Rock’s no-nonsense attitude. The two men made their way to where Rock’s ship was docked. The women were already loading the cargo when they got there.
“Look at all these guns. Where did they come from?”
Kain
asked.
“Rave didn’t tell you?” Rock asked as he moved to help Se with a box.
“Tell me what?”
“I’m in the transport business, too. It’s how we met. Only difference is I run guns and do some mercenary work on the side. I have connections, and if needs be, I’ll call in a few favours.”
Kain
stopped his forward motion and shook his head. He didn’t have time to worry about Rock’s career, but the conversation wasn’t over. He saw the way Se looked at Rock.
“I don’t think that will be necessary. Get me to your
coms
, and I’ll have backup ready and waiting,”
Kain
requested.
“Are you sure? If you had backup, why didn’t you call it in before now?”
“I didn’t think I would need it and that’s a long story that should wait for another day.”
Rock looked at him for a moment, as if he could see right through him.
“Okay. For some reason, Rave trusts you, so I guess, for now, I will, too. Let me get this last box inside and get us airborne.”
Kain
felt helpless. He couldn’t help with the guns. His head hurt, and when he bent down, it throbbed.
It didn’t take long for the big man to finish loading the cargo. The four of them boarded and were in the sky faster than
Kain
would have thought possible.
When Rock finished inputting the course,
Kain
reminded him of the call.
“I need to call the Alliance headquarters. Can you patch me through?”
Rock pushed a few buttons and turned to
Kain
. “Go ahead. The computer is hooking up with their mainframe. It should take a couple seconds.”
They waited until the computer told them the Alliance was on line.
“Computer, I need to speak with Commander Corbin.”
“Corbin, here.
Who is this?”
“This is Commander
Kain
Sims.”
“Borden’s boy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“He’s looking for you. You’ve been off the grid for two years. What’s going on, and why aren’t you calling him?”
“I was told he was aware of my situation and Commander General Fritz would be in charge of the case.”
“Fritz? This doesn’t sound good.”
“It isn’t. I think he set me and my partner up. Why, I’m not sure. I need help. He tried to blow up a ship he knew I was on. My partner, Rave Anders, has gone after him. Alone.”
“I heard about the Anders boy. Wasn’t he court-martialled?”
What was Corbin saying?
Kain’s
heart sank, his faith shattered. He had to get clarification.
“Wait, you don’t know? I was told it was faked so Rave could go undercover.”
“No, son.
That wasn’t faked. We found contraband.”
Kain’s
heart sank, his faith shattered. Damn the Alliance.
Kain
pounded a fist on his thigh.
What the fuck!
“What does Fritz have to gain from setting up Rave and keeping me away?”
“I think we need to contact your father. I’ll patch him in with us.”
Why hadn’t he figured out Fritz had lied to him? He should have known his father wouldn’t sign up for what they’d put both him and Rave through.
Kain
had been grieving and too shocked to think about it. Once Fritz had him under his control, all his thoughts had been of escape and Rave.
“Sims, here.
What can I do for you, Corbin?”
“Your son needs help,” Corbin responded.
“My son?
You’ve heard from
Kain
?” Borden’s voice held hope.
“I’m here, dad.”
Kain
turned to Rock. “Can we get a visual?”
Rock pushed a few buttons, and
Kain’s
father appeared on screen. He looked older.
“
Kain
!
Where the hell have you been?”
“We don’t have time for me to go into everything, dad. Rave is in trouble.”
“I think that’s an understatement. The wire says he kidnapped you.”
“We’re being set up. Do the names Commander General
Rynol
Fritz and Commander Seth Davidson ring any bells?”
“Fritz has been on our radar for some time now. We think he’s doing some drug trafficking, but so far, we have no proof. I haven’t done much work on the case because we’ve been searching for you. I’ve never heard of this Davidson character.”
“Here’s the short version and why I need your help. Fritz told me Rave’s court-martial was faked in order to put him undercover. He proceeded to threaten me with Rave’s death unless I cooperated. I was told you were under orders not to contact me, and I had better not contact you. When I rebelled, they showed me pictures of what happened to
Rave
on DI. This undercover thing has to do with
Seid
II and a T-15K Laser. The Royalists hired Rave to pick it up. We, Rave and I, were to pick it up as scheduled, but the Alliance would swoop in and take the laser. After all was said and done, Rave would be exonerated. Something went wrong. Davidson is behind it somehow. Now that I know you have Fritz under watch, it makes sense that he and Davidson are in this together.”
His father and Corbin looked at him, and he waited for their response.
“You should have contacted me. Do you have any proof?” his father asked.
“I thought I was following orders. I told you I tried to rebel then
was
shown how easy it would be to hurt Rave. I couldn’t let that be done, not to the man I love. I figured I had to obey orders. It wasn’t only him. They threatened Se, too. I played the party line until they were ready to use me again. We don’t have proof, but if we get to
Seid
II before Rave does something stupid, we might be able to find it.”
“I’m still confused as to why Fritz would have you help the Alliance if he was in this for himself. Something is missing,” Corbin responded this time.
“If I had to guess, he wanted to look like a hero to get you guys off his back. What better way than to make it appear as if he rescued me from a kidnapper and saved the world from the Royalists plot to blow up a planet,”
Kain
speculated.
“What about this Davidson character?” his father asked.
“Neither Rave nor I can figure out his part in this. Can you help?”
“I can’t go under the guise of an Alliance commander, but I’ll be there,” Borden said.
“Count me in, Sims. I’ll work on getting this official. Borden, you get to your son and help.” Corbin clicked off.
“I’m sorry, dad. I should have known. I should have contacted you.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over something you couldn’t control.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll let your mother know you’re alive then I’ll contact you when I get to
Seid
II.”
His father’s image disappeared from the screen, and
Kain
bowed his head. He looked out into space. He hoped he wasn’t too late to save Rave.
Chapter Fourteen
Logically, Rave knew he should have waited for backup, but he couldn’t sit still while
Kain
lay there unconscious. He had to take care of this, once and for all. First, he’d confront Seth Davidson to see why he’d changed the plans
Kain
had told him about,
then
he’d find out if Fritz stood behind it all.
He thought about contacting Rock to see if
Kain
had woken yet, but he had to focus. He would arrive on
Seid
II in about fifteen minutes.
Rave didn’t plan a sneak attack. He would knock on their front door.
“Fleet Ship Delta Bravo, this is Rescue Pod I of the
Retribution
requesting emergency asylum.”
“
Retribution,
this is Fleet Ship Delta Bravo. What is your emergency?”
He went with the truth. “My ship was fired upon. The rescue pod will only last for
for
twenty-four hours.
Permission to dock.”
“Permission to dock granted. What is your ETA?”