Rivers of Orion by Dana Kelly (a court of thorns and roses ebook free .TXT) 📕

“We need the transport crew’s flight plan,” said Mike. “Officer Buteo told us they’re BICOM, probably bounty hunters. If we can intercept them before they get to the lab, we might be able to buy Orin back. If they won’t consider a reasonable offer, we can always exercise other tactical options.”

“Oh, right, we’ll just line up that deep space strike team we have on standby,” said Torsha. “You still have their number, right?”

“Funny.” He resumed his march. They passed by a costume store with a line out the door. “No, I’ll call my dad. He has the resources. I just hope they’re available.”

“Marty?” asked Torsha. “What’s he going to do, talk them to death?”

Mike smiled slightly. “Didn’t you know he’s El Sangron?”

Torsha laughed, but Mike didn’t. “Wait, he is?”

“He really is the archduke of this sector,” said Mike. “Reports directly to the king. Pretty important guy.”

“My whole life, I thought you were kidding,” said Torsha.

“Never about that,” said Mike.

Torsha stared off. “I’m completely upside down, right now.”

He retrieved his phone and placed a call. “Hey, papá.”

“Hola, mijo,” said Martin.

Mike took a deep breath. “I have a huge favor to ask.”

“We’re stretched a little thin,” said Martin. “Now is not a good time.”

“I know, but it’s for Orin,” said Mike. “He had a binary trigger event three days ago.”

“Huh.” Martin whistled quietly. “Orin’s a binary… You know, I’ve always had a feeling there was something special about him. You saw it with your own eyes?”

“We were right there,” said Mike.

“Tell me everything you remember,” said Martin. “Every detail.”

◆◆◆

Within the back of the panel van, Shona sat beside Orin, and Malmoradan hunched across from him. In time, brakes squeaked faintly as the vehicle came to a stop, and Orin struggled weakly against his wrist restraints. A moment later, April dragged open the sliding door. Her eyes met Orin’s, and she offered a compassionate smile.

Quickly, Malmoradan exited the van and pulled Orin to his feet. Guiding him out onto the sidewalk, the massive ocelini nudged Orin along, steadying him as needed, as they approached a nearby sky lot. With Casey in the lead, they made their way up the stairs and onto a rooftop tarmac.

Casey’s shuttle was long and sleek, with a sloped nose and a chrome skirt that surrounded her main engines. Canopy glass extended nearly halfway along the upper hull, accompanied by half a dozen smaller thrusters. Her vertically folding wings framed the shuttle’s aft engines, and a lengthy boarding ramp extended from the exterior airlock passage.

Inside, butted up against the cockpit bulkhead, a set of steel lockers spanned the gap to the passenger bench. Across from the lockers, a weapon rack stood otherwise empty, but for a lone stun baton. Next to it, a pair of net chairs dangled from sturdy overhead mounts. Handrails spanned both sides of the overhead, and all the way at the back, a sign over the door read, “Latrine.”

Malmoradan secured the interior, while Shona led Orin to the bench. Casey sat down in the cockpit. As she initiated the shuttle’s preflight checks, April joined her in the copilot’s seat, and they secured their safety restraints. “Malmoradan, how are we looking?” asked Casey.

“Everything’s locked down, and the airlock is clear,” said Malmoradan.

“Good,” she said. Casey retracted the boarding ramp, and the exterior airlock door sealed shut. Shona buckled Orin into his safety harness and sat down next to him as Malmoradan secured himself next to her. Like a slow crescendo, the engines spun up as Shona fastened her restraints. The wings hummed as they folded down into place.

In time, Casey taxied out onto the runway.

Orin closed his eyes as the feeling of rapid acceleration took hold of his guts and forced an uncomfortable thrill throughout his body. He audibly exhaled after the sensation had passed and eased back as much as the collar allowed. Moments later, he sensed someone else’s body heat as they leaned over him, tinkering with the device.

“It’s not broken,” said April, and Orin opened his eyes.

“How can you be sure?” asked Casey.

April laughed. “Because it hurts like hell if I touch any of the leads!” Curiously, she regarded Orin. “Like I thought, it just doesn’t work on him.” Reaching past his field of view, she set to releasing the collar’s fasteners.

The cockpit had swiveled to face the dorsal canopy, and Casey looked up to peer into the passenger compartment. “And how can you be sure of that?”

“Because I just turned it all the way up, and he didn’t even flinch.”

“April!” Casey barked, “why would you—” The shuttle lurched suddenly, though she swiftly righted it. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Tell me any other way you’d have believed me.”

Casey thought about it and looked forward again. “I guess I can’t, but that was extreme. It could’ve killed him! It would’ve killed anybody else.”

“I know. I’m taking the collar off,” said April.

“You’d better not! MABAS will climb down our throats if we don’t follow delivery protocol.”

With a wink, April regarded Orin and touched her finger to her lips. Quietly, she removed the collar and placed it within the equipment locker. She used her sleeve to gently dab Orin’s forehead. “There we go,” she whispered, and she offered him a spouted pouch of water.

“Thank you,” he said, and he sipped.

“Casey said he might be an exo-cognitive,” said Shona. “Be careful he doesn’t bewitch you!”

“He’s not an exo,” said April.

“You don’t know that for sure,” said Malmoradan, and he glared at Orin. “Don’t think I won’t hesitate to snap your neck if you try anything stupid!”

Orin regarded him curiously. “Don’t think you won’t hesitate? What?”

“See what happens, freak!” Malmoradan struck his fist loudly against the flat of his hand.

“Right, I get it. If I push my luck, you’ll wait to punch my neck,” said Orin.

Malmoradan seethed. “Just give me a reason!”

“Boys, please,” said April. She gestured for Shona to scoot, and she sat down next to Orin. “Hi! I’m April Sattari.”

“I’m Orin Webb. But you already knew that.”

“I did, but it’s still nice